


To Build A Home

by Ashleyparker2815



Series: Until It Disappeared From Me [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Big Brother Harley Keener, Dark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Peter Parker, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Pepper Potts's Biological Child, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Harley Keener, Protective Morgan Stark, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers is evil, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 147,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleyparker2815/pseuds/Ashleyparker2815
Summary: When Peter was three years old, he was kidnapped by Steve Rogers. Steve raised Peter as his own son and in the process, lied to him about where he came from. After a field trip gone wrong, Peter’s life comes crumbling down all around him when he finds out the truth of his real family who thought he was gone forever.Peter now must learn to navigate his new life after coming to the realization that the man who he called dad for seven years is actually his kidnapper.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Until It Disappeared From Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162031
Comments: 490
Kudos: 1064
Collections: Stories in which Peter Stark was kidnapped as a child.





	1. What’s broken can be mended

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii guys!! I’m really excited to share this story with you guys:) I’ve been writing it for a few weeks now but I was waiting for September to post it:) new beginnings. I’m in love with this idea and I hope you guys are too! 
> 
> Some important things you need to know, 
> 
> -Peter was kidnapped at 3 years old and was missing for 7 years so he is 10 in this fic  
> \- Harley is his older brother and was 9 and is now 16  
> -peter and Morgan never met as tony and Pepper had her after peter went missing so she is 6 in this fic  
> -this is an Au so no iron man or Spider-Man but Tony still has Stark Industries with Pepper being the ceo so they are billionaires  
> -I know peter is still 10 and young and it will all be explained in future chapters but he acts young in this fic as mostly all my fics for reasons that will be explained in future chapters  
> -alsooo I changed Peter’s, Morgan’s and Harley’s age as well as the time peter was missing for and I edited all the chapters but if you find something that doesn’t add up or make sense just let me know and I’ll fix it 
> 
> Enjoy:)

Peter looked out the passenger seat window and watched the rain droplets race each other down the glass. 

He looked into the front seat at his dad as they pulled up to the school and gave him a weak smile. 

“I’ll pick you up after school, bear.” Steve said, putting the car in park and turning around to give him his full attention. “Be good on your school trip and know that I love you to the moon and back.” 

Peter smiled a little harder and took off his seatbelt to lean over in the seat to give his dad a tight hug like they always did before they parted ways. “I love you to the moon and back, dad. See you soon.” 

Steve pulled away from his kid and rubbed a thumb across his cheek. “Be good for your teachers my little man.” 

The ten year old playfully pushed his father's hands away and rolled his eyes. “I always am.” He then reached over to grab his backpack and got out of the car. “Bye, dad.” 

With a shut of the door, Peter had no idea that this was going to be the last time his life would ever be the same. 

.  
.  
.

Peter let out a yawn and looked over at his best friend who was sitting next to him on the school bus on the way back to their school after their trip to the science museum. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was 2:45pm and they were supposed to get back at 3:00pm yet they weren’t even close to the school. He didn’t want his dad worrying about where he was so he sent him a quick text. 

Peter: Hiii dad! we aren’t even close to the school yet:/ sorry I’ll see you soon! 

Peter held his phone in his hand as he waited for a text. 

Beside him, Ned groaned. “I’m so hungry and tired. I just want to go home and stuff my face with my mom's Mac and cheese.” 

At the thought of his best friend’s mom’s Mac and cheese, Peter’s mouth started to water. “Please don’t talk about her food. It’s so good.” 

Peter loved his dad’s cooking the best, it’s what he grew up with and what he was used to so of course he loved it but he also really loved Ned’s moms cooking. 

“Sorry. I just want to get home.” Ned said then stood up on his seat to try and see what the hold up was. 

“Me too.” Peter replied and looked down at his phone but he found no text from his dad yet. He tried not to worry about it since his dad always texted him back right away and he knew the man was waiting for him in his school parking lot already so Peter’s anxiety started to make itself known. 

“Ned, please sit down in your seat.” Mr. Paul told him so Ned immediately sat back down with another groan. 

Peter went to say something to Ned when suddenly there was a loud pop and the bus started to swerve around which caused everyone inside to start screaming. 

Peter grabbed onto Ned’s arm and felt his heart start to pound in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut until the bus came to a stop and the kids stopped screaming. 

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that they were in the ditch on the side of the highway. Peter immediately looked down at his phone which had fallen onto the floor of the bus. 

When he went to go reach for it, Ned was grabbing onto his arm and pulling him to his feet. “Come on, Peter. We gotta go.” 

Peter tried to yank his arm away from Ned since he was so close to reaching for his phone and his only way to keep in contact with his dad but Ned was pulling him along so he had to leave it behind. 

They were rushed off the bus by the teachers and were lined up along the fence to do a headcount. Peter shivered from the dampness in the air and wrapped his arms around himself to try and keep the heat in but failing in the process. 

“What’s happening?” Peter whispered to Ned and then looked to his left to the sound of fire trucks coming. He just wanted to get back to the school so he could see his dad. 

“Listen up everyone!” The teacher yelled to get everyone’s attention. “I want everyone’s attention on me please. Once the situation is under control, we will be calling your parents and having them come to pick you up.” 

Peter practically sighed in relief. He didn’t know how long that was going to take but he hoped it wasn’t too long. 

He stood by the fence as a fire truck arrived as well as a few police cars and an ambulance to check everyone over. Peter watched as his classmates left one by one as their parents came to pick everyone up. 

Peter wasn’t sure where his dad was or why the man was taking so long to come and pick him up but he had to come any minute now so Peter kept an eye out. 

Ned’s mom pulled up in her red car that Peter had been in countless times. Ned gave him a half hug and a weak smile. “I’ll see you later. Don’t worry, your dad will be here soon.” 

Peter tried to let those words calm him down but he didn’t know why it was so hard to hear. Something had to be wrong because his dad just wouldn’t show up like this. If only he had his phone. 

There were only two other kids left so Peter walked up to one of the fire fighters and tapped on his arm. “Uh… excuse me? But my um, is my dad gonna be here soon?” 

The man turned around and looked down at him. “Sorry kid, but I’m not sure.” 

Peter frowned. He turned around and looked at the group of police officers and two of his teachers talking to them. One of the police looked over at him and then started to make her way towards him. 

“Hi Peter. My name is officer Kate. Can you come over here with me?” She spoke slowly to him but all Peter wanted was answers so he nodded his head and followed her over to one of the ambulances where he was lifted inside by one of the paramedics and sat into a chair. A blanket was placed over his shoulders so he grabbed onto it and rubbed his thumb over the soft material. 

“Can you please tell me your full name, sweetie?” The police officer asked but Peter didn’t understand why she was asking. No one else got asked these questions. 

He looked up and saw that the two girls were leaving in a car and talking to his teacher and another officer. “Where’s my dad? He should have been here by now.” 

The officer nodded her head slowly. “We just need to ask you a few questions so can you answer them for us please?” 

“I-okay.” Peter felt his eyes start to burn and he could feel the tears starting because he had no idea what was going on but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. 

“Can you tell me your full name?” 

“Peter Rogers.” 

“And how old are you, Peter? When is your birthday?” 

Peter looked over at everyone who was watching him so he looked down at his lap. “Um, I’m ten. I just turned ten. I was born on um, August tenth.” 

“Alright. And do you know where you were born?” 

Peter shut his eyes and tried to think about where he was born. “I don’t-I don’t know. Me and my dad moved to Queens after my mom died when I was um, three I think but I don’t remember.” 

He looked up at the officer who had a sad look on her face. She rubbed at Peter’s knee and looked towards the other people in uniforms standing around them and spoke to Peter’s teachers. “We’re going to take it from here now.” 

Peter sat up straighter as he watched his teachers gave him a regretful look and then turned to leave into an awaiting car. “W-where are they going? Why can’t I see my dad?” 

“It’s going to be okay. You’re going to come with us.” Officer Kate said but Peter shook his head and started to panic. Everyone had left but him and he didn’t know what was going on. 

A man walked up to him and lifted him off the ambulance but Peter started to hit his chest weakly and cry out. “No! Where’s my dad?! I want my dad!” 

“You have to come with us first.” 

Peter was led into the back of a police car with two strange cops that he didn’t know. The whole way to the police station that he was being brought to, he kept thinking about his dad and how worried he must be right now, having not showed up at the school when he was supposed to. 

The reassurance by the policeman sitting next to him went unnoticed because Peter didn’t care about being comforted by a strange man right now when all he wanted was the only person he had left in his life, his dad. 

The walk into the police station was a complete blur. All Peter remembers is being led into a room that looked like it belonged in a daycare. He was led over to a corner with a desk and two chairs so he sat down in one of them and put his hands in his lap. 

After that, everyone left the room, leaving him by himself and Peter hated nothing more than being left by himself. 

He looked around the room at all the bright colours but they did help to calm him down and make him feel relaxed. 

The next time the door was being opened, Peter looked up to see that another woman was walking towards him, someone he had never seen before. 

She placed a brown folder on the desk in front of herself then sat down. Peter watched her carefully. 

“Hello Peter. My name is Natasha and I’m a social worker. I know you must be extremely scared and confused right now but I promise you that everything will be explained shortly.” She explained and then turned around to the door being opened and two people walking out wearing white lab coats. “They just need to take a blood sample and a mouth swab from you. It won’t hurt and it’ll be over very quickly.” 

Peter unconsciously turned in on himself and watched the two women make their way over to him and set a case on the table. “Hi Peter. I’ll be gentle but I need a mouth swab so can you please open your mouth?” 

Peter looked over at the social worker then opened his mouth, wanting this to be over as soon as possible. 

Next was the blood sample. His dad always held his hand when he went to the doctors so to not have his dad with him was killing him. He flinched when the needle went in and shut his eyes tightly until it was over. 

Just as quickly as it began, it was over and the lab coated people left, leaving Peter alone with Natasha. 

“I’m going to explain some stuff to you that you may not understand right now.” She began and then opened up the folder. Peter saw a lot of long worded documents and some pictures. “What I’m about to say will be hard for you to hear.” 

Peter nodded his head but he didn’t know why because he didn’t want to hear it. 

She began. “Peter, your name isn’t Peter Roger’s because Steve isn’t your father.” 

Peter felt his face pale and his heart sped up. “W-what? He is my dad.” 

She shook her head sadly, like his teachers had done to him. “He is your kidnapper.” 

“No. Steve’s my dad. What are you talking about?” Peter went to stand up but his legs didn’t work so he slumped back down and wiped at the tears falling down his cheeks. 

Natasha pulled a picture from the file and placed it in front of him. He wiped at his eyes more and looked down at it. It was a photo of a smiling toddler who must have been at least two or three years old. 

“Why are you showing me this?” Peter asked, looking up from the picture. 

“This is you. This was taken a week before you went missing just over seven years ago.” The social worker explained but Peter shook his head again in denial. 

“No. All-all my baby pictures burned in a house fire when-when my mom died.” Peter explained from what he was told all his life by his dad. Every single picture from the time he was born until he was three were nonexistent because the fire took everything from them. 

“Is that what you were told? It explains why you didn't recognize yourself when you were a baby.” She said and Peter pulled the picture back to himself to look at it. 

The baby in the picture did look like him. He had big brown eyes and curly chocolate brown hair. He still didn’t want to believe it though. It wasn’t true. 

“You’re lying. I want my dad. Please let me see my dad.” Peter felt the tears return so he started wiping them and begging the woman sitting in front of him to let him go back to his dad. 

“I’m sorry, Peter. We don’t know where he is.” She told him which had Peter breaking down. 

His dad would never just leave him like that. They were all each other had and always promised each other that they would never leave. 

“Then-then where am I supposed to-to go?!” Peter asked, brokenky. He had just been told that his whole life was a lie and just dad had kidnapped him. 

“When Steve Rogers kidnapped you, you were only three years old so you most likely won’t remember but you have a family that misses you and loves you so much.” Natasha explained slowly to him but Peter was shaking his head. That couldn’t be true. 

“No. Stop it.” He weakly begged her. 

She didn’t stop. “You have a mother who is a beautiful, loving and intelligent woman whose world ended the day you were ripped away from their lives. You also have an older brother who is six years older than you and a little sister who you've never met before but she wants to meet you.” She paused and looked at him more intently. “You also have a father. Your real father who never stopped searching for you and he’s going to be so happy when he finds out you’re still alive.” 

Peter stood up and let out a sob. He walked over to a corner and pushed himself up against the wall, curling into a ball. 

The social worker stood up and sat in front of him after a few seconds. “Peter. I’m telling you this because you were lied to your whole life and now you deserve to know the truth.” 

“No! You’re lying to me.” Peter cried out and tried to suck in a breath of air. 

“Seven years ago, I was put on your case. I got the call saying that you were playing at the park with your parents and older brother and were taken away from them. There were very little leads to go off of and they were all dead ends. Your dad and I stayed up all hours of the night searching for you. Going over old and new leads but nothing. Until now.” Natasha spoke softly to him and even though Peter didn’t want to listen, he couldn’t stop himself. 

He stayed silent so she spoke. “I’ve worked for seven years to bring you back to your family and today, I finally get to do that.” 

Peter turned away from her so his back was facing her. He laid down and traced the monkey sticker on the wall. “I don’t believe you.” 

She didn’t respond. Peter listened as she got up, grabbed some papers and sat back down so she was sitting next to him. “I have some pictures of your family if you want to see them.” 

Peter shook his head. “I don’t even know their names.” 

“Well… your mother’s name is Pepper. Would you like to see a picture of her?” 

As much as Peter didn’t want to, his curiosity got the better of him so he sat up a bit and held his hand out for the picture that was placed on his lap. He looked at it. He tried to remember each and every detail to see if he could gain any memories of her but he couldn’t. 

She was really pretty but he didn’t see any resemblance. He traced his finger over her face carefully. “She doesn’t even look like me.” 

“Well, that’s because you look exactly like your father. You got everything from him.” Natasha said with a smile. She grabbed a picture out of the file and held it face down. “Would you like to see him?” 

Peter nodded his head before he could even think about it. The picture was handed to him so he flipped it over and saw a face that brought a sudden wave of emotions. He started crying and tried to see the man’s face through his tears. “Tony.” 

Beside him, Natasha gasped slightly. “Yeah. That’s his name.” 

Peter let the picture fall down onto his lap. He didn’t want to see the resemblance but he did. Tony had brown hair with a bit of waves in it as well as the same brown eyes that were a mirroring resemblance. He flipped the picture over. 

Natasha slowly grabbed it off of his lap and held one more picture in her hand. “This is a photo of your older brother and younger sister. Although you wouldn’t remember her because you never met her before.” 

Brother and sister. The thought ran through his mind again and again. He was an only child. He didn’t have a mom or a brother or sister. It was just him and his dad. 

“I don’t want to see it. I just want my dad. Please.” Peter turned his head to look over at Natasha. He didn’t understand why she couldn’t just take him to his dad. 

“I’m sorry, Peter. Your dad isn’t going to be seeing you anytime soon.” Natasha told him and Peter let out yet another sob. He tossed the pictures off of his lap and turned back onto his side, facing the wall. 

Natasha picked the pictures up and placed them back in the file. She then stood up and left the room, leaving Peter alone with his world shattering all around him. 

.  
.  
.

Tony placed the grocery bags onto the kitchen island and looked around for Morgan who was carrying the eggs. “Morgan, bring those to me before they break.” 

“Eggs! Coming through!” The six year old yelled then placed the eggs into her dad’s hands. 

“Thank you, little miss.” Tony placed the eggs on the counter and looked over at Harley and Pepper who were walking in with the rest of the groceries. “I see you two are taking your time.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes playfully at him and walked past the phone that was lighting up with missed messages. “Can you check the messages, Tony, while I go to the bathroom.” 

Tony went to go over to the phone and press the messages but then Morgan was calling him from the hallway. 

“Daddy! There’s two policemen at the door!” Morgan yelled and his heart dropped. No. Nononononono. He didn’t want to hear what they had to say. When two policemen came to your door unexpectedly, that meant no good news was about to follow and his kid that was currently missing might be… no. No. 

He walked towards the front door and stopped just beside the hallway. He could see the two police officers standing there but he didn’t want to hear what they had to say. 

He shut his eyes and tried to wish that this wasn’t happening. That they could live a life with even the tiniest bit of hope that Peter was still alive and that they would have a chance at seeing his kid again in this lifetime. 

Pepper walked down the stairs and stopped once she saw the cops there. “No. Please no.” 

“Mr and Mrs. Stark. May we come in and talk to you?” One of the men asked and Tony wanted to slam the door in their faces and tell them to fuck off but he had to know. He knew it was about his kid. 

He didn’t say anything but walked over to the door and looked back at Harley who was standing there with a terrified look in his face at the thought that his little brother might possibly be dead. “Harley, take Morgan upstairs.” 

Harley did as he was told and then the police walked into the house and shut the door behind them. 

Tony couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to hear it. 

“We found your son.” One of the men said and Tony couldn’t move. Pepper fell to the floor and started crying, not knowing if Peter was found dead or alive. 

The seconds that passed in between were the longest seconds of their lives. “He’s alive and healthy.” 

It was Tony’s turn to break. He covered his face with his hands and cried into them. The thing that had kept them going for the past seven years, praying and hoping for Peter to come back to them one day was finally happening. 

“Oh my god.” Tony whispered in disbelief and wiped at his cheeks. “Where- oh my god, where is he?” 

“He was living with his kidnapper for seven years. His kidnapper raised him as his own child and that is all we can tell you right now.” The other police officer explained to them. 

Pepper stood up and walked over to Tony to cry against him. “How- where was he? How did you find him?” 

“He was on a school trip when the bus broke down and everyone’s parents were being called but his.” The officer explained and Tony felt something break inside of him. 

Peter was at school. His kid was living a whole life with his kidnapper and he probably had no idea. 

“I want to see him now. Take us to him.” Tony demanded because he went seven years without his baby boy and it was time to see him now.


	2. What to do now that it’s all fallen apart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys!! Thsnk uuuuu all so much for all your lovely comments on the first chapter:) I’m so glad that you guys like this fic :))) 
> 
> Enjoy!!

Pepper let go of Tony to compose herself a bit. She lost her child seven years ago, almost to the day and her life had never been the same again. 

It was Tony who suffered the most when Peter was gone. 

He didn’t get out of bed for days and then he would disappear for days at a time just to be by himself and breakdown alone so Pepper and Harley wouldn’t see him like that. 

So to hear that Peter was now alive, that was the only news they had been begging god for since the day Peter left them. 

The two of them walked out of the house, Pepper quickly sending a text to their neighbours to check up on Morgan and Harley in a few hours and then got into the police car without another word. 

Tony and Pepper clung on desperately to each other for the whole ride to the police station. They didn’t want to get their hopes up in case that this wasn’t their Peter. They didn’t want to have to go through another heartbreak that bad. 

When they arrived, they continued to hold onto each other. It was dark outside and nearing ten at night but Tony didn’t want to wait another day to see his kid. 

Inside the building, Natasha, their case worker who had been working with them from the very beginning, walked over to them and broke down in tears while she nodded her head. “He’s alive. He’s alive and he’s here.” 

Pepper hugged her back and she joined her in crying while Tony was eagerly waiting to see his baby. 

When Natasha pulled away, she wiped her tears and motioned them to sit down on the chairs. “Before I take you to see him, I have to tell you a few things.” 

Tony shook his head. The thoughts of someone taking advantage of his kid and hurting him was haunting his every thoughts and making its way into his nightmares. He didn’t want to hear that. “Please. Did that monster hurt my baby?” 

“No. Not that we know of. The man who kidnapped him is named Steve Rogers.” She paused and Tony let that name sink in. He didn’t recognize it. “When he kidnapped Peter, he moved him up to Alberta for a year until things settled down a bit. He must have known some insiders who helped him change Peter’s last night and some fake identification then he moved Peter back to New York and he’s been raising Peter as his own in Queens ever since.” 

Tony stood up and wanted to vomit. 

Peter had been kept right under their noses this whole time. That almost made it worse. Maybe he didn’t do enough to find his kid? 

“Peter didn’t know you guys existed until a few hours ago. He’s scared.” Natasha continued and suddenly Tony was feeling scared to meet his own kid. “He was told that his mother died in a house fire when he was three, along with all family pictures up to that age. He lived a somewhat normal life.” 

“Normal?” Tony asked in crazy disbelief, although after many years of working with Tony, Natasha was used to this by now. “He was raised by his kidnapper who did god only knows what to him in that time. He probably brainwashed him.” 

Pepper reached out to grab onto his hand. Natasha didn’t flinch. “I meant that he wasn’t abused or chained to a bed. He was given toys, allowed to go outside, have friends, and go to school.” 

Pepper wiped at her face. “How do you know that monster didn’t hurt him? How do you know for sure?” 

“We don’t know for sure. At least not yet but I can tell you right now that he didn’t, Rogers is a child kidnapper and is on the run right now but I can tell you that he never laid a hand on Peter.” Natasha spoke with conviction and Tony believed her, mainly because he didn’t want to believe anything else. 

“I’m going to let you guys see him now but we have to take this slowly. He still believes that Rogers is his father and that’s all he knows.” Natasha explained. “As much as you want to, do not bad talk Rogers. Don’t even bring him up unless Peter does. It will just cause him to turn on you guys.” 

Both parents agreed and followed Natasha down a hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a door with a rainbow painted over the top of it and had trees and monkeys swinging from it. 

Tony knew what was behind those doors. 

“I’m going to go inside and tell him that you guys are here.” Natasha went to move but stopped. “Just remember that he doesn’t remember you guys. I showed him a picture and he didn’t remember.” She turned to Tony. “He called you Tony so maybe he remembers that somehow. That’s good news but maybe him seeing you will ring some bells.” 

As Natasha turned and walked into the rainbow room, both Tony and Pepper clung onto each other and unconsciously held their breath. 

They waited until the door was being opened back up what felt like a lifetime later. Natasha walked out and turned around. Tony saw a set of curly brown curls follow her out. 

He covered his hand over his face. His eyes were glued onto his baby that was walking towards him. It had been seven years since he'd last seen him and now here he was, in arms reach yet Tony couldn’t move. 

Natasha stopped walking and stepped to the side a bit. “Peter. This is Tony and Pepper. Do you remember who I told you who they are and how much they love you?” 

Peter gave a slight nod and then lifted his head so he could look at the two adults standing in front of him. He looked at Pepper first and then looked over at Tony but his eyes lingered on him for a lot longer. 

Both parents were trying to keep it together but Pepper couldn’t hold it in anymore. She broke down with a sob and reached forward so she could touch Peter but she hesitated. “Oh baby. Can-can I touch you?” 

Peter looked like he wanted to shake his head but instead, he gave the tiniest nod and if Pepper and Tony hadn't been staring at him so intently, they wouldn’t have seen it. 

Pepper ever so slowly reached out to cup Peter’s still chubby cheeks in her hands. Once she was touching him, it was as if it became real for her so she broke down even harder and hugged Peter without him making any move to hug her back. 

When she pulled away, Tony wanted to do the same thing. He wanted to pick Peter up and hold him in his arms like he used to do when he was a baby but the sad truth was that they were complete strangers to Peter. 

Tony wanted to hear him speak. He wanted to hear what his voice sounded like. He wanted to memorize every single part of Peter and embed it into his mind so he wouldn’t ever forget. 

He looked down at his son and couldn’t stop his stomach from growing butterflies in it. The love he had for this boy standing in front of him. He mourned the loss of his kid for longer than he knew him and now he couldn’t even move to reach out and touch him. 

Looking down at him, he was trying to take in everyone of Peter’s features. He was extremely tiny. Not underweight and starved kind of tiny but naturally tiny. He was wearing grey track pants with a blue, oversized sweater that had some kind of lego man on the front. 

Tony looked into his eyes and saw a mirrored reflection of his own. The same curly brown hair that he remembered from the three year old that left their lives all those years ago. 

He couldn’t wait any longer so he kneeled down in front of Peter so he was closer to his height but now Peter was the one looking down at him. Tony looked up at his kid and felt the tears burn his eyes. 

“Hi Peter. I’ve waited so long for this.” Tony wiped at his face some more. “I know you probably don’t remember me but I’m your father, baby.” 

Peter looked away from him and turned back to Natasha who was watching the scene unfold in front of her. Tony sat there, down on one knee and looked at his son who didn’t even want to look at him. 

He knows that he should expect it. Another man who claimed to be his father was the one who raised him and it was all Peter knew so of course he was going to take a liking to everyone else but him. 

Peter turned back to look at Tony with tears falling down his cheeks. “I-I don’t know you.” 

Tony just stared at Peter. That broke him. Although he knew he shouldn’t have expected Peter to know who he was. 

He was taken from them at three years old so Peter wouldn’t have the memories still in his mind. Tony hoped that eventually something would ring a bell for him and let Peter’s memories come flooding back but it was unlikely. 

Tony cleared his throat and stood up. “That’s okay. Um,” He looked up at Natasha who looked sad as she watched the small family reunite. 

It was stupid of them to have pictured Peter running into their arms and sobbing on them while they all clung onto each other because Peter wouldn’t have remembered them no matter who had kidnapped him and what they did to him. 

Natasha put her hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Would you like to go back into the room while I talk to Tony and Pepper?” 

Peter responded by turning and walking in the direction of the rainbow room. He turned around and glanced at Tony before looking away and disappearing into the room. 

Pepper cried into Tony’s shoulder. “He hates us.” 

“He doesn’t know you guys. We always talked about the possible outcomes of this happening. We tried to stay hopeful and this was the downfall of it but you have Peter back. He’s ten years old. He’s a child and he’s scared so don’t rush him.” Natasha tried to help calm them down with reason which Tony liked since she never sugarcoated anything. 

“I can take him into foster care for the night so you guys can get ready-” 

“No. We’re taking him home.” Tony rushed out. “I’m not leaving his side ever again. Just… bring him back out here.” 

Natasha looked at Pepper then gave a sharp nod and turned to walk into the rainbow room. 

Natasha walked over to Peter and kneeled down in front of the chair he was sitting on. “I just want my dad. Please.” 

She sighed. “Steve is not your dad, Peter.” 

“Yes he is!” He screamed at her, tears pouring down his face. 

“He stole you away from your real mom and dad when you were a baby.” She explained once again. 

Peter shook his head and continued to cry harder. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was go home and fall asleep in his dad’s bed with him like he does every Friday night. It wasn’t fair. Where was his dad? 

“Tonight, you’re going to go home with Tony and Pepper and I will come to check up on you tomorrow, alright?” 

Peter started crying harder and shook his head desperately. “No. I don’t want to! I don’t know t-them. No.” 

Natasha stood up and pulled Peter to his feet. “They’re your parents and they love you so so much. Even if you don’t remember. Just know that they do.” 

Peter continued to tug weakly against Natasha who was holding onto his hand and bringing him into the hallway but he had no more fight left in him. 

She stopped just in front of the two strangers so Peter tried to pull her in the other direction or at least try to get free so he could run but he gave up and sank to the floor. 

“I know this is hard for all of you but he’s overtired which is making everything worse.” Natasha explained to them but she knew that they were already aware. 

Pepper bent down so she could reach out and hold onto Peter’s tear soaked face. “It’s gonna be okay, Peter. Just take a breath and we’ll take you back home.” 

Tony watched them. It wasn’t home for Peter. 

They had moved out of their old house a year after Peter was kidnapped. They brought a house with four bedrooms because they always wanted an extra one for Peter and it worked out perfectly when Morgan came along so now there was an empty bedroom in their house with nothing in it, waiting to be used by Peter. 

They would eventually make their own memories over time but Tony didn’t know if they were going to be happy memories or not. 

He knelt down on the floor next to Pepper and reached out to place a hand on Peter’s arm. “Peter, it’s okay. Everything is gonna be okay now, baby. You’re home.” 

When Peter looked up at him and shook his head, something inside Tony broke. 

They wanted Peter so badly but Peter didn’t want them. 

Natasha had to be the bad man in this situation so she grabbed onto Peter’s arms and pulled him to his feet. “I’m going to see you tomorrow, Peter.” 

Peter tried to stop crying. He sucked in a shaky breath and rubbed at his eyes then looked up at Tony who had stood up with him. 

It was scary and frustrating for Peter. He just wanted his dad who apparently wasn’t even his dad anymore. Part of Peter never wanted to see the man ever again and another part of him wanted to run into his arms and never let go but he wanted to know why more than anything. 

He walked a bit behind Tony and Pepper as they were led to another police car and had the back door opened for them. Peter hesitated and took a step back. “Why are we going in a police car?” He asked, he was already put in one to be brought to the station. 

“Since we drove them here, we will be driving them home.” One of the police officers explained to him and Peter looked up at Pepper who was looking at him as if he had hung all the stars and the moon just for her. 

She gestured to him to get into the car so he slowly got in and shifted to the window seat, pushing himself up against it and looking out. 

It had to be at least twelve at night which was way past his bedtime. He should have been in bed with his dad, safe in his arms. Instead, he was sitting at the back of a cop car with his whole world flipped upside down. 

The car started and then they were driving. Peter watched the street lights pass by above him and spotted the moon. He wondered where his dad was. If he was thinking about him and worried, Peter sure was. 

He spared a glance over at Pepper who was sitting in the middle. She was already looking at him so he frowned and looked down at his lap. 

When he looked back out the window, he didn’t recognize where he was. He knew he was being taken somewhere where he’s never been before which he was pretty sure was Manhattan. 

After what felt like hours, they were pulling up to a street with huge oak trees on the properties of these giant houses. If it was any other situation, Peter’s jaw would have dropped at how beautiful the street was, well from what he could see at nighttime. 

The police car pulled up to a driveway which must be where they live and it was obvious that they were rich and had money. His dad wasn’t rich but they were happy. They lived in a small but cozy house together and were happy. 

He wanted his dad so badly. 

Peter immediately looked over at Tony after that thought and tried to see himself in him again. He saw it clear as day. He hated that. 

The car door was opening on his side and then a hand was grabbing onto his arm as if he would make a run for it once he got out. He didn’t have anywhere to go and he was exhausted. 

“This is your home, Peter.” Pepper said to him after she got out of the car. He was looking up at how big and beautiful it was. He didn’t reply to her. 

When he looked over at Tony, he was talking quietly to the policeman and Peter wondered what they were saying. They were definitely talking about him. 

After the policeman got into the car and left, Peter felt so much more alone now. He hugged his arms around his stomach and shifted away from the two adults. 

Tony walked up to him and smiled weakly, bending down a bit so they were at eye level. “You’re home now.” He looked over at Pepper then back at Peter. “You have an older brother, Peter. And a younger sister. I know you don’t remember your brother but he missed you so so much and they don’t know that you’re home safe so I’m going to go tell them before you come inside, okay?” 

Peter just looked down at his feet. It didn’t matter anyways. 

After Tony left, him and Pepper went to go sit on the front steps. Peter grabbed a dandelion from the ground and picked it up. 

“When you were a baby, you used to love it when I used to pop the heads off of dandelions.” Pepper said with a smile but it dropped when Peter turned to look at her with tears in his eyes. 

“I don’t remember. I-I don’t remember anything about you or-or him or any of this.” Peter cried out but wiped at his tears because he didn’t want to cry anymore. Why didn’t they understand that he was scared and didn’t want any of this? 

Inside the house, Tony ran upstairs and went into Morgan’s bedroom where he knew his two kids would be. He opened the door and found Harley sitting on the floor with his back up against Morgan’s bed and Morgan lying down, staring at the door. 

Both of them jumped when Tony opened the door. Harley immediately jumped to his feet and looked at Tony, demanding for him to talk with his eyes but also silently wishing to never find out. 

Tony smiled and nodded his head. “He’s alive. They found him and he’s alive.” 

Harley broke down, practically throwing himself into his father’s arms. “Oh my god. Are-are you s-sure?”

Tony held him back. He thought back to all those days in the very beginning when Harley would ask where his little brother went but Tony and Pepper couldn’t give him an answer because they were wondering the same thing. 

“He’s outside right now.” Tony said and Harley pulled away from him so fast. 

“What? He’s outside.” Harley went to leave the bedroom but Tony stopped him. 

“Wait. He doesn’t remember us, Harls. He has no idea who we are so you can’t be too pushy with him.” Tony warned him and looked over at Morgan who was standing on her bed and watching the two. 

“What happened to him? Where was he this whole time?” Harley asked, scared of the answer like Tony and Pepper were just a few hours ago. 

“Mom and I will explain everything we know to you later.” Tony told him then lifted Morgan off the bed and set her on his hip to walk down the stairs. 

“Peter’s back, daddy?” Morgan asked, sounding unsure. 

Tony gave her a weak smile because even though they had their missing puzzle piece back, it didn’t really feel that way and maybe it never would. “He is. You get to meet your big brother now.” 

Tony walked into the living room and placed Morgan on the couch. “Mom and I will bring him in so wait here. He’s scared and this is all so new to him.” 

When Tony left them to go back outside, he felt his heart start to race suddenly. He had his kid back. After seven whole years. 

He opened the front door and both of them turned around to look at him. He silently told Pepper to bring him inside so she stood up and Peter followed. 

Peter looked down the long hallway and up at the staircase that had a baby gate at the bottom. It made him wonder how young his actual sister was. 

Woah. The thought hit him hard. His sister. He had a sister. And he had an older brother. He was pulled from what seemed like a beautiful life. 

When he walked into the living room, his eyes landed on who must be his older brother. He tried to remember him but he couldn’t. The boy was looking at him and slowly making his way towards Peter so he took a step back. 

The boy didn’t look like him or Tony. He saw a bit of Pepper in him but he wasn’t like him and Tony. 

“Peter. Oh my god. I can’t believe it’s you.” The boy said and walked closer to him but this time, Peter didn’t move away. “Do you remember me? I’m your older brother, Peter.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I don’t remember you.” 

He smiled, despite Peter not remembering him. “That’s okay. It’s been so long. Can I hug you?” 

Peter thought about it. He always loved physical contact. Even if a random person asked him for a hug, he would say yes. He loved hugs because they always made him feel so safe and loved. He nodded his head so the boy didn’t hesitate to cross the distance between the two and pull Peter tightly against his body. 

A wave of something hit Peter once the boy was holding him in his arms but Peter didn’t know what it was and kept his arms by his side. 

When the boy let go of him, Peter looked down. “Uh… what’s your name?” 

“Harley. I’m Harley but you used to call me-” 

“Harls.” Peter interrupted to say. He didn’t know how that memory randomly came back to him but it felt good.

Harley silently gasped and looked at Tony and Pepper who were looking at each other. 

Peter peeked around Harley at the head peeking over at him on the couch. He unconsciously reached out to grab onto Tony’s hand and move closer to him but after a split second, he realized what he was doing and immediately pulled away. 

Tony felt his stomach flutter when Peter grabbed onto his hand. Even though Peter let go not a second later, it felt good. He missed his baby so much but it still didn’t feel like they had him back yet. 

Tony wondered what Peter was like. If he was shy or outgoing. If he was smart, funny, silly, sweet and innocent. He wondered what his laugh sounded like or what his natural smell was like, if it was still the same since he was a baby or if it changed over time. 

He wondered what Peter’s favorite colour was, or his favorite movie. Could he sing and dance? What were his fears? What did he like to eat or not like to eat? There were so many questions that Tony wanted to know the answers too. 

If he remembers correctly, which he always did when it came to Peter, Peter hated blueberries and bacon. Absolutely despised it so he wondered if he still did. 

Tony looked over at Morgan and knew that she would be shy. How could she not be? She had never met Peter before, she was told her whole life that she had another older brother who was missing and she heard millions of stories of him. A lot of repeated ones but stories nonetheless. 

She peeked her head up a bit more and waved at him. “Hi. I’m Morgan.” 

Peter didn’t respond. He looked up at Tony and then shifted on his feet. 

“How about you two get ready for bed now. It’s late.” Tony told Harley who was staring at Peter with wide eyes, as if he looked away then Peter would disappear. 

After a few seconds, Harley grabbed Morgan’s arm and pulled her out of the living room. Peter watched them go then once they were gone, he looked back down at his feet. 

Tony just wanted to pick Peter up and hold him in his arms forever but he knew he couldn’t since Peter didn’t want that. His own kid didn’t want him to touch them and that was killing him to just stand there and watch Peter break without being able to give him any comfort. 

“Let’s go upstairs. Tomorrow after you wake up, we can show you around the house.” Pepper said to him and went to walk towards the stairs, passing by the front door so Peter ran over to the front door and weakly banged on it. 

“Please let me go. I want to go back to my dad. Please.” He tried to pull on the door handle then turned back to look at his biological parents. He knew now that Steve wasn’t his actual dad now but he loved him and he was the one who raised him so he wanted to go back to him. 

Tony walked over to him and gently pulled his hands off of the door handle. “Let’s go up. You need to sleep now, Peter.” 

Even though Peter didn’t want to listen or go with Tony, he was way too tired to do anything else but sleep. If he was back at home with his dad, he would be able to get some cuddles and most likely a hot chocolate. 

When they got upstairs, Peter looked at every single detail of the house. Was this the house he used to live in for the first three years of his life? Would anything bring any memories back to him just by being there? 

They walked into a bedroom at the end of a hallway and Peter guessed that it was the master bedroom and once they walked inside and the light was turned on, he guessed right. 

He hoped that he wasn’t sleeping in here because there would be no way that he was sleeping with them. 

“Would you like to shower?” Pepper asked and walked into the bathroom. It looked huge. As well as everything else in the house. 

Peter shook his head. 

“We don’t have any clothes that fit you right now but I’m gonna grab some clean pyjamas for you to put on, okay?” Tony told him and waited for Peter to shake his head but he never did so he quickly left the room to grab some pyjamas from Harley’s room although he knew the clothes would be huge on Peter. 

Pepper was staring at him. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of him since she first saw him again after all that time. She was scared that she was living another one of those beautiful dreams where she was reunited with her son again and if she looked away, she would wake up and Peter would be gone. 

“I know this is so hard and scary for you, Peter, but… Tony and I love you so much. We missed you more than anything and we… we just love you so much.” Pepper admitted to her ten year old child. 

Peter felt his eyes burn again so he blinked away the tears. “I-I don’t know you. And-and I just wanna go back home to my dad.” 

Pepper wanted to tell him the truth. She didn’t know what Peter already knew but she wanted to tell Peter that that man stole him away from his loving family and that he was an evil person for doing such a thing. 

She didn’t though. Tony walked into the room with a clean top and pants. “I know it’s gonna be really big on you but it’s just for one night.” 

Peter reached forward to take the clothes from Tony with a quiet thank you. He then hesitated because if he was back with his dad, he wouldn’t have cared about his privacy but he didn’t know these people. 

He turned towards the bathroom and walked inside but when he looked at the door, Tony was standing there. “Do you need any help?” 

“I’m ten.” Peter answered, annoyed. “And you’re not my dad.” 

That hurt Tony but he remembered what Natasha had told them so he just shut the door and sat down on the bed. “I hate that guy so fucking much. I want him locked up. He stole my baby from me.” 

Pepper sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. “I know. I hate this too but we got him back. We won. It’ll take time and I know it’ll be hard but we have our baby boy back.” 

“I just want to hold him.” Tony admitted. Peter always used to be so loving and cuddly, always wanted to be held and always wanting to be tucked away under daddy’s chin. 

Peter had always been a daddy's boy. While Harley and even now Morgan are mommies babies, Tony wanted his baby back. 

When Peter walked out of the bathroom, both their heads snapped up to look at him. He was holding onto the waistband of the pants and his shirt hung way over his arms and made it look like he was wearing a dress if he let go of the bottom half. 

He looked so small and Tony thought that maybe they didn’t miss out on Peter’s life. He was only ten and still had so much to do and to learn and to develop as a person. Tony could be there for that. He could still teach Peter so many things. 

“Do you need some help so they stay up?” Tony asked, standing up and walking towards Peter who was looking between the two cautiously. 

“Uh, sure.” Peter stepped towards Tony and let go of the pants so Tony could roll the waistband up. Peter felt his eyes burn again. He watched as Tony rolled up his pants so carefully and he thought about how this person standing in front of him was actually his dad. Tony was his dad and if Steve had never taken him from his real family then who knows how he would have turned out. 

He seemed to have so much with this family. A mom which he always wanted and often cried about the fact that he never got to crawl into his mother’s arms after a hard day and let his mom hold him until he fell asleep. 

All the emotions came flooding in at once so Peter stepped away from Tony and started to cry. He wiped at his tears and looked up at Tony who was looking at him with a look that Peter couldn’t recognize. 

“Are-are you actually my real d-dad?” Peter asked, trying to stop crying but he couldn’t. 

Tony kneeled down in front of Peter again and grabbed onto his hands. Peter didn’t pull away and looked into the same eyes as his. “I am. I’m your real dad and Pepper is your real mom.” 

Peter wanted someone to hold him so he could cry and let it all out but he didn’t want to take comfort from anyone but his dad. From Steve. 

He carefully pulled his hands away from Tony and walked towards the bed so he could hopefully fall asleep. He stopped by it and fisted the comforter in his hands. “I… I um, I sleep with my blanket.” 

“Oh. We can grab you another one.” Pepper got off the bed and went into the closet. 

Peter stared at the door until she walked out with a red and white striped blanket that looked soft. She handed it to him so he took it from her and rubbed his hands over the material. 

“This used to be yours when you were little.” Pepper explained to him. “You used to carry it around everywhere with you and you would never go to bed without it.” 

He curled his fingers around the material and let out a yawn. When he looked up at Pepper, she was smiling at him with watery eyes and the same with Tony so he looked away. 

“I know today was extremely hard for you, Peter, but I want you to know that we all love you so much. We dreamed about this day, having you back home with us again and again so… we just, we’re really happy.” Tony spoke softly but Peter didn’t want to hear it. He did feel bad for them because he would be leaving them soon to go back to his dad. 

“You should get some sleep now. We’ll be downstairs if you need us.” Pepper looked like she wanted to reach out and hug him goodnight but she didn’t and it suddenly hit Peter that he wasn’t going to get a goodnight kiss from his dad or a goodnight cuddle. 

He let out a puff of air to try and keep his tears in once again then climbed onto the bed to crawl under the blankets that Tony had pulled back. Peter laid down and cuddled his temporary blanket against his chest. 

He shut his eyes but then he was opening them again once he heard the bathroom light shut off so he sat up and held his hand out. “No. Can you keep it on?” 

A faint smile appeared on Tony’s face as he turned the light back on and shut the door a bit. “Of course. Do you want the door open or closed?” 

Peter laid back down on the pillow and moved his head so he was more comfortable. He used to always sleep with it open because he liked it better that way but now he wasn’t sure but he settled on what he usually did. “Open.” 

“Alright. Sleep good, Peter. We’ll be downstairs if you need us.” Both adults stood by the door, knowing Peter wouldn’t reply to them but also not wanting to take their eyes off of him. 

After they finally left, they went downstairs and into the kitchen where Harley was sitting at the kitchen island looking extremely anxious. “What happened? Where was he this whole time?” 

Harley watched his parents take a seat across from him. Tony put his head in his hands and sighed. “Dad? Tell me. You can’t keep this from me. Was he being abused?” 

Tony shook his head and looked over at his oldest son. “No. He was kidnapped by a man who… who fucking raised him as his own.” 

Harley ran a shaky hand through his hair. “What do you mean? So Peter just found out that we exist?” 

“The man who raised him is crazy.” Pepper spoke so Tony didn’t have to. “He lied to Peter his whole life and he just found out that we exist today.” 

“Who is he? Who’s the guy?” Harley stood up and asked, demanding to know. 

Tony didn’t want to involve Harley. He was sixteen years old and he didn't need to have to take care of that. That was Tony’s job as a father. “His name is Steve Rogers but that is all you need to know. You will not get involved with the legal aspects of this.” 

“He’s my brother.” Harley said as if that explained everything and in a way, it did. The kind of bond that an older sibling has with their younger ones. 

“We’re his parents and I’m telling you to stay out of this. You need to be here for Peter now. Let your mom and I deal with this.” Tony demanded because he would not get any more of his kids involved in something where they shouldn’t belong. 

Harley continued to stare at Tony for a few moments, deciding if he should go at it more but instead, his demeanour changed. “I want to go see him again.” 

“He’s sleeping in our bedroom for the night.” Pepper answered her first born and stood up to turn the kettle on since she knew that they weren’t going to get any sleep tonight. 

“I’m going to go check on him.” Tony stood up and said. He didn’t know why he was sitting in the kitchen when his missing child was sleeping in his bed alone. 

Pepper and Harley ended up following him up but he knew he couldn’t stop them. He quietly walked up to his bedroom door and peeked into the room, seeing that Peter was in fact asleep. 

They all walked into the room and Tony carefully sat on the bed. Peter was sleeping in the middle of the bed with his butt up in the air and his knees tucked against his chest. 

The position melted Tony’s heart and wished so badly that he got to be there for every year of Peter’s life. 

He missed out on way too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh I hope you guys liked that chapter:))) I’m soooo excited for you guys to read what I have planned for this fic and I just got another idea to write this other thing I wanted to write in the future chapters and ahhhhh I’m so excited


	3. Memories playing through my head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys!!!! I’m back with another update:))) I hope you guys like this chapter:))

Tony reached out and ran a gentle hand over Peter’s cheek that wasn’t squished into the mattress. 

He wanted so badly to hold Peter in his arms and never let go. 

Peter was sleeping so peacefully. For a minute, they could pretend that they were a normal family and not a family that had their baby ripped away from them, not knowing if they would ever see him again. 

Harley dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed and leaned against the frame. Pepper ran a comforting hand through Harley's hair and then reached over to rub Peter’s arm but that caused him to start whining and roll onto his side. 

All three of them held their breath while they waited for Peter to wake up but thankfully that never happened. 

Tony ran another hand through his hair and smiled over at Pepper when Peter leaned into the touch even in his sleep. 

“I’m gonna stay with him for a bit.” Tony whispered to them because he didn’t think he could leave Peter right now. Maybe not ever. 

“Get some sleep, Harley.” Pepper told him. “Morgan will go over to Cassidy’s house tomorrow because Natasha is coming so we’re not going to send you away as well but it’s your choice whether you want to stay or not.” 

Harley stood up and wiped at his cheeks. “I’m staying.” 

Tony laid down on the bed so that he was facing Peter. He heard Harley leave the room but he could still see Pepper on the corner of his eye, watching over them. 

Tony brushed the curls off of Peter’s face. “What do you think he’s dreaming of?” 

“I don’t know. I hope something happy.” Pepper whispered then walked away to go into the bathroom and picked up Peter’s dirty clothes that he had put into a pile on the floor. 

She made sure they weren’t inside out anymore and pulled his underwear from off his pants, smiling at how Peter still does that. Harley stopped doing it but Morgan still did it and now she had another kid to untangle underwear from. 

Pepper flipped the underwear around so it wasn’t inside out anymore and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t let a cry escape. They were lego man underwear that she had brought for Harley when he was Peter’s age. The exact same make. 

Pepper walked into the bedroom with the material in her hand and placed them in front of Tony. “Harley used to wear these kinds.” 

Tony held up the underwear and a small smile appeared on his face. He had missed so much of Peter’s life but in a way, Peter and Harley had stayed connected during this time even if it was something as simple as Harley's old underwear now being the same make that Peter wore years later. 

“We missed so much of his life.” Tony admitted out loud and turned back to look at Peter. “I don’t want anything from that man’s house. Throw these out.” 

Pepper didn’t blame her husband. She wanted the clothes that Peter came in with, gone. She didn’t want anything that reminded them of that man. 

That man who had stolen Peter’s life from him. They would be lucky if he ever trusted anyone ever again. It was going to be a long recovery for them. 

Tony handed the underwear to Pepper and ran another hand through Peter’s hair. “I’m gonna stay here and hopefully he doesn’t wake up so I can watch over him for a bit.” 

Pepper didn’t say anything, she left the room, leaving Tony with his kid. 

Tony continued to examine Peter’s face. He looked so old yet so young at the same time. 

The last time Tony had seen him, he had been a happy three year old toddler who was constantly laughing and demanding to be held by his daddy. 

Him and Pepper always laid awake at night, thinking about their baby. They always wondered if Peter was crying for them. Now he wondered when Peter had stopped crying for them. When had he started to believe the lie that was being told to him was his life. 

Tony didn’t know if he wanted to know the answer to that question. He had so many other questions that maybe better left unanswered. 

Rogers had potty trained Peter. Had most likely already taught him how to ride a bike, tie his shoes, how to swim and so much more. There were so many firsts that Tony had missed with his baby boy. 

The truth was that the boy lying next to him was a complete stranger. Tony didn’t know anything about him. Rogers had known Peter longer than he had known his own son and Tony hated that fact. 

Tony didn’t even know if Peter knew how to ride a bike or swim. He didn’t know if he preferred to have his crust cut off or left on. He didn’t know if Peter had his first girlfriend or kiss yet but he hoped not. His baby was way too young for that and he wouldn’t allow it. 

The sad truth was that Peter was a stranger to him as much as they were to Peter. 

With that thought in Tony’s mind, Peter started to shake his head from side to side and started to make tiny whimpering noises. 

Tony carefully reached over to rub at Peter’s back which caused Peter to let out a low whine and right as Tony thought Peter was going to wake up and start freaking out that he was in the same bed as him, Peter lifted his head up and moved closer to Tony to lay his head on top of his chest. 

Tony froze. 

It was the closest thing to comfort that Tony had gotten from him since they got him back. Tony placed his hand over Peter’s back, feeling his weight on top of him which made Tony start to silently cry. 

This was real. 

He had Peter back. So many days and nights that went by where he pictured this moment where he finally had his boy back and now here he was, with Peter back in his arms where he always belonged. 

Just as suddenly as Peter placed his head on his chest, he was sitting up on his knees and swaying a bit before falling face first onto a pillow. 

The whole thing was rather cute, even though Tony missed the heavy weight on his chest. 

He thought that Peter must be a reckless sleeper. It could also be the fact that he’s under a lot of stress from the day but he’s pretty sure it has to do with both things. 

Pepper appeared next to him then crawled onto the other side so Peter was between them. Tony hoped he didn’t wake up but he didn’t think he would. 

“He put his head on my chest for like a minute.” Tony whispered which caused Pepper to gasp silently. “Yeah, he started whining in his sleep so I rubbed his back and then he put his head on my chest.” 

Tony could make out a smile spreading across Pepper’s face. He smiled too then looked back at Peter. 

“He’s so handsome. Such a beautiful face.” Tony observed and glanced back up at Pepper. “We made him.” 

It was an extremely emotional day for them so that caused the tears to start falling again for Pepper. “I know. We did.” 

Tony sat up because he knew if he stayed then he would be falling asleep and he didn’t want to take Peter’s trust from him. 

“I’m Uh, I’m gonna go order some stuff for him to the house. So uh, so he can have some clothes to change into tomorrow.” Tony got off the bed but he ran a hand through Peter’s still soft baby curls one more time before he left. 

.  
.  
.

The next time Peter woke up, it was to the sun shining brightly on his face. 

He rolled over to face the other way so the sun was no longer assaulting his eyes and then all of the memories from the day before came rushing back to him. 

He laid there motionless and feeling numb. 

The need to cry was not there. He felt nothing and maybe that was worse than feeling anything at all. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and looked at the bedroom door that was still open. On the wall across the hallway, he could make out a family picture that looked recent. 

He obviously wasn’t in it but for some reason, that made him feel weird. He didn’t know how to explain it but he didn’t like the feeling. 

Peter pushed himself up on the bed and looked at the nightstand table. His eyes grew wide once he saw the picture. He now knew it was him as a baby. 

He picked it up and saw that he had the same button nose with big brown eyes and curly hair. He ran a finger across his face and smiled a bit but then there was a voice at the door that startled him. 

“That’s you.” Tony said from the doorway. He gave Peter a smile and walked into the room, not knowing how Peter would feel this morning. 

Peter sat up a bit and put the picture frame on his lap. 

“Is it okay if I sit down?” Tony asked, hesitating by the edge of the bed and when Peter gave the smallest nod, he sat down and turned his body towards Peter. “You were two years old when I took this picture.” 

Peter was staring at the picture and trying to analyze every detail. 

“I remember that day because it was so hot outside and all you wanted to do was go to the park so that’s where we went. Just you and me.” Tony explained to Peter. It was one of his favourite days with Peter, considering that he doesn’t have many days to go off of. 

In the picture, Peter was sitting at the bottom of a red slide and smiling up at whoever was behind the camera with the widest smile. Now Peter knew that it was Tony behind the camera. 

“Why didn’t um, anyone else go?” Peter asked, curious to know the answer. 

“Because it was just our day. You loved all of my attention so we spent a lot of time together.” Tony thought about all the times where he would have to leave and Peter would scream bloody murder until he got back. Now Peter didn’t even want to look at him. 

Peter ran his fingers over his face once again then put the picture back on the nightstand table and rubbed at his eyes. 

Tony stood up. “Are you hungry? Mo- um, Pepper is cooking some breakfast whenever you’re ready. Natasha is coming over in an hour.” 

Now that Tony mentioned food, Peter realized how hungry he was and he was excited that Natasha was coming so he could beg her to take him back to his dad. 

“I Uh, I got some clothes for you to put on. I hope I got the size right.” Tony grabbed a pile of clothes and put it on the bed in front of him. Peter didn’t even see him walk in with anything. “Oh and I hope you aren’t scared of dogs.” 

With that, Tony left. Peter’s interest was immediately peeked. He slid out of bed and grabbed the clothes that Tony brought for him and went into the bathroom to go pee and change into the lego man underwear, dark blue track pants and white long sleeved shirt. 

The material was extremely comfortable and fit perfectly. He wondered how they knew his side so perfectly since he had always been hard to shop for because his age not matching his tiny size. 

Tony wasn’t small, he was really muscular and seemed extremely fit so he didn’t know where he got his small size from. Maybe Pepper? Even though she wasn’t that small either. 

After he was done, he left the bedroom, now feeling incredibly uncomfortable and lonely. He felt like he was at a friend's house and counting the hours until he could go home. Although now, he wasn’t sure when he would be able to go home. 

He got to the bottom of the stairs and sat on one of the steps, too uncomfortable to walk down and join everyone but he didn’t even know where the kitchen was since the house was massive. 

Harley walked out from the room beside the stairs and smiled down at him. “Hey. Are you hungry? Did you sleep well, Peter?” 

Peter looked up at Harley through his eye lashes and then looked away and nodded his head, curling more into himself. 

“Well that’s good cause-” 

Harley didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence because there was the sound of paws making its way towards them so Peter snapped his head in that direction and saw a dog walking over to him and sniffing his wet nose all over his hands and face. 

Peter started laughing but moved his head away anyways. He felt all the worries and stress leave his body for just a few seconds as the dog licked his face. 

“His name is Asier. We got him a year ago after, well, yeah.” Harley trailed off sadly towards the end and then patted his thighs which caused Asier to sit down. 

Peter continued on with the laughing fit for a few seconds longer but then he stopped and the sadness washed over him once again. 

“Do you want to take him into the kitchen? It’s time for his breakfast as well.” Harley told him so Peter stood up and grabbed onto Asier’s collar so he could follow Harley down the hallway and into the kitchen. 

Everyone stopped to stare at them so Peter looked down at the dog to try and stop the overwhelming feeling. 

“I see you met Asier, Pete.” Tony said as he was filling up his third cup of coffee of the morning. 

“Yeah. He’s cute.” Peter said quietly then looked up to see Pepper sitting at the kitchen island with Morgan who was sitting next to her and staring at him. Peter looked away. 

“Don’t let his cuteness fool you, he will eat your shoes and food when you aren’t looking.” Tony joked playfully and held a finger up at the dog. Peter laughed softly. 

“And when you are looking.” Harley added then walked over to grab Asier’s food which caused the dog to leave Peter’s side. 

“Come sit down, honey. I made pancakes with some bacon and fruit.” Pepper pointed to the seat across from them but Peter shook his head and moved so he could hide half behind the wall. 

He didn’t know these people. He just wanted his dad. 

Tony took a sip of his coffee and sat down next to Peter’s spot with his own plate. “You have to eat before Natasha comes.” 

Peter hesitated. He looked over at Asier then walked into the kitchen and took a seat next to Tony and looked at his plate. “I don’t like bacon. I’m sorry.” 

Both Tony and Pepper looked at each other with a knowing smile. “That’s okay. You eat whatever you want to eat and if you’re still hungry after then I will make something else for you.” 

Peter nodded at Pepper and stared at her for a little bit longer. He was looking at his mom. The person who gave birth to him and the person he wanted to meet more than anything in his life but he knew he never would yet here she was. 

He weakly smiled at her when she smiled at him then he began eating. 

Morgan was staring at him the whole time. “Do you want to play with my dolls with me later?” 

Peter shook his head. He wasn’t going to be here later and he didn’t want to play with dolls. 

Morgan frowned and it matched Peter’s almost exactly. “Why not?” 

Peter just shrugged his shoulders and ripped off a piece of pancake to shove in his mouth. He gripped onto the table so he could sit on his knees and grabbed his glass that was placed in front of him. 

Tony and Pepper were watching Peter secretly the whole time. They wanted to see if he ate the blueberries that were put out for him because they knew that three year old Peter hated it so now they wanted to know if ten year old Peter hated it as well. 

Peter ate almost everything but his blueberries and bacon. Tony looked over at Pepper and smiled but as simple as it was, he was so happy because it meant that they still knew Peter. He wasn’t a complete stranger to them. 

Peter drank the rest of his apple juice but his throat was so dry so he turned on his chair to look at Tony who was putting dishes in the sink. “Um, can I have more please?” 

“Of course you can.” Tony grabbed the cup from Peter, cringing at how slimy it was but he ignored it and got him some more juice then looked at his shirt which had red spills all down the front. Tony didn’t know how that was possible from one strawberry. 

When Peter had his back to him, Tony motioned for Pepper to look at his shirt. She looked then covered up her smile and turned to Morgan. “Go get your shoes on because you’re going over to the neighbours until six tonight.” 

Morgan looked away from Peter then threw her head back in annoyance but got off the stool anyways to go do what her mom told her with Harley going to follow her without having to be asked to walk her over to the neighbours house. 

Peter put his hands in his lap and looked at the counter top. “Um… when is Natasha coming?” 

Tony gave Pepper a sad look without Peter seeing them finished putting the dishes into the sink. “She’s coming at nine so about ten minutes.” 

Peter nodded his head and started counting down the minutes until she arrived so he could beg her to take him back to his dad that he missed so freaking much it was crazy. 

A long ten minutes later, the doorbell rang so Peter willingly followed Tony to the front door and stood by the stairwell railing as he watched them greet and Natasha walk inside. 

“Hi Peter. How are you?” Natasha asked him but he just shrugged and she didn’t seem phased about it. 

He stood up when they walked back into the kitchen and followed them. Natasha turned to him. “Do you want to go into the living room to talk with me?” Peter nodded his head and waited for her to lead the way after she turned to Pepper and Tony. “I’m going to talk to him for a few minutes then I’ll talk to you guys.” 

When they both agreed, Natasha led Peter down the hallway and into one of the living rooms since she knew her way around the house after being in it so many times. 

She sat down on a couch but before Peter was even sitting down, he was speaking. “When can I see my dad?” 

Natasha looked sad. “Peter. You have to understand what the man who you believe is your father, he kidnapped you from your real father and your whole family.” 

Peter pulled his legs to his chest on the couch. “Yeah but… he’s still my dad and I want to go back to him and you’re here to take me back.” 

Natasha didn’t say anything but she still had the same look on her face. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Peter?” 

“Do you understand what I’m saying to you? I want to go back to my dad. Tony isn’t my dad. I don’t-I don’t know him.” Peter put his legs down and stared at Natasha. 

Since she was used to working with children, she didn’t feel phased by Peter’s attitude towards her. “I know it may feel that way because they are strangers to you but they are your real parents, Peter. They love you and they never ever stopped looking for you but they are your real mom and dad.” 

Peter didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to go back to a day ago where he was happy with his life and having no idea about the potential amazing life that he missed out on with a mom and siblings. 

He didn’t want to think about the fact that Steve took him away from all of that. 

“I just…” Peter pulled his legs back to his chest and sighed. “I just want to go back home. To my dad.” 

“I know you do and I am so sorry but I can’t make that happen.” 

Peter broke down in tears and fell onto his side so he was curled into a ball on the couch. He didn’t know what was going to happen with him but Natasha wasn’t going to fix anything so he wanted her to leave. 

“Would you like me to grab Tony or Pepper?” She asked, nicely but Peter shook his head and kicked his legs out. 

“No! I want you to leave!” He screamed and broke down even more, knowing that she was not going to take him back to Steve. 

Natasha didn’t move. “The only way that you can move on is for you to understand what was done to you was wrong. You were stolen from your life and I am so so sorry that that happened to you, Peter, but you have to understand that.” 

Peter didn’t want to. He covered his ears and turned his face into the couch so he could just forget about everything. 

Natasha watched him for a few seconds before getting up and walking back into the kitchen where Pepper and Tony were standing, having heard the whole conversation and Peter crying. 

“I was going to ask how things were going but I can see that things are not going well which is completely expected.” Natasha took a seat at the dining room table but Tony and Pepper didn’t move. 

Natasha pulled out some papers. “I didn’t expect this to be easy. It’s a massive adjustment for all of you and him but in your case, you knew he existed. He just found out about you guys less than a day ago so it’ll take some time.” 

“I don’t know why we always expected our reunion to be filled with love and hugs and kisses.” Pepper laughed dryly. She grabbed a Kleenex to wipe her tears. 

Tony stayed silent. He didn’t know what he expected. There were so many possible outcomes with the scariest being that Peter was dead and never coming back. Another scary thought was that Peter was sold into something that he didn’t even want to think about. 

Tony could hear him crying in the next room and it took everything in him to not go and comfort his kid. He knew that he would just get rejected anyways but maybe it was important for Peter to know that he cared. 

“At least you have him back. Now you can focus on the healing process and getting into a routine for him.” Natasha told them. Tony was half listening but more focused on the crying. “He was in school so I think right now, you need to get his name legally changed back and get all of his legal documents figured out. Then you need to talk to him about school and that this is a permanent thing. There will be no going back to Steve.” 

Tony hated that name. He hated that man who stole everything from them. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t sit here and talk as if he’s not crying in the other room.” Tony uncrossed his arms and walked into the other room where he saw Peter lying on his stomach and his knees pulled to his chest, much like how he was sleeping the night before. 

He squatted down in front of the couch and hesitantly reached out to rub Peter’s back. “Hey, buddy. It’s gonna be okay.” 

Peter flinched and lifted his head up to look at Tony. “Go away!” 

Tony didn’t care. Peter could call him every rude name in the book but he wasn’t going to leave him. Never again. 

He got comfortable with his back up against the coffee table so he could stay with Peter and be there for him without actually getting to hold and comfort him. 

Peter sucked in a shaky breath and turned his head the other way. He slowly slid off the couch so he was kneeling in front of it but with his face still pressed into the fabric so he could listen to the conversation going on in the kitchen. 

He lifted his head up when he saw Natasha hugging Pepper which meant that she was going to be leaving so Peter stood up and walked over to the door cautiously. 

“I’ll be back in three days so I’ll see you then, okay?” Peter shook his head because he was not okay with that. He wanted her to take him with him and bring him back to his life. 

“I want my dad. Bring me back to him.” Peter begged desperately and grabbed onto her hand so he could lead her towards the door. 

“What did we talk about, Peter. I can’t do that and I’m sorry.” Natasha held onto Peter’s hands but he pulled himself away from her and tried to open the door. 

“No! Please! Please. I wanna go home.” Peter cried and wished she would take him but he knew that that was not going to happen. 

Tony watched on with his heart shattering in his chest. To hear his own child cry for another dad was beyond heartbreaking. 

Natasha left after that. She looked at Pepper and nodded her head, a silent encouragement that they could do this. 

Peter grabbed onto the doorknob and collapsed onto the floor while he cried for what his life had become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter! Who wants to know the reason behind Asier’s name and why I picked it? Too bad I’m gonna tell you anyways so, 
> 
> I wanted something that symbolizes hope and starting over, or a new life and Asier means the beginnings or a new beginning and I think that it fits perfectly with Peter’s situation and what he’s going through and honestly with what the whole family is going through too because they’re all in it together 
> 
> Asier: 
> 
> https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/28sxsg_1c6gWBJiukX1lPDDh3lA/183x0:2851x2668/fit-in/2048xorig/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2020/01/27/146/n/44701584/9f72ae5c5e2f9d0c49ead0.00496867_/i/types-golden-retrievers.jpg


	4. I’ve been waiting for this moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii guys!!!

Tony watched Pepper cover her hand over her mouth and wrap an arm around her stomach then walk away from Peter breaking down in front of the door. 

He knows that she was crying but so was Peter and he comforted her for seven years, it was Peter’s turn. 

So Tony sat down next to Peter’s head. He rubbed his back once again, not knowing what else to do since all he wanted to do was to pull Peter onto his lap and hold him tightly until everything was okay. 

Peter flinched at the sudden contact but didn’t move from him. “Go away!” 

“I’m not leaving, Pete.” Tony told him, thinking back to how much he missed the nickname. It just slipped out and it sounded so right. 

Peter shook his head that was buried under his arms. “No! You-you took me away f-from my dad.” 

That hurt. “That’s not true, Peter. That man took you from me. You’re my child. Not his.” 

Peter just cried harder so Tony sat there with his hands in his lap. He didn’t know how long he was going to sit there for. 

Whenever his kids would have a temper tantrum, he would walk away and ignore them until they were done but what Peter was having was not a temper tantrum. It was a meltdown from everything that he has been told over the last twenty-four hours. 

Peter needed him whether he knew it or not. 

Thirty minutes passed by with Peter still going at it. Pepper came to sit on the bottom of the stairs with her face red from crying then she left, unable to watch the scene unfold around her. 

Harley had to walk in from the side door so as to not disturb Peter. He walked by then went straight upstairs and into his bedroom because the scene was way too hard to handle. 

It took an hour in total for Peter to start to calm down. He started to whimper sadly and moved his head to the side and stayed like that for a few minutes. Tony watched his every move. 

Peter then slowly stretched his arm out from under himself and slowly reached over to grab onto a string on Tony’s shirt. 

Tony unconsciously held his breath. 

He didn’t want to say anything to scare Peter off and acted as if he was a wild animal that would make a run for it with any sudden movement. 

So Tony watched as Peter reached out to play with the string and then he turned onto his back and looked up at Tony with red, puffy eyes. 

Tony didn’t want to scare Peter away but he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to cup Peter’s face. Peter continued to look up at him but his bottom lip started to wobble so Tony spoke softly, “I love you, Peter. No matter what. I need you to know that.” 

Peter moved his head away and pushed himself up. He rubbed at his face and looked down. “I-I wanna go home. Please.” 

Tony wanted so badly to tell Peter the truth about who his kidnapper is. That he is a very fucked up guy who ruined everything and ripped Peter from their life, but he didn’t. Not yet and maybe not ever. 

“I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but this is your home.” Tony told him, expecting Peter to burst out crying again but he just stared ahead at nothing in particular. 

Tony looked at Peter’s hands and saw that he was digging his nails into his palms so Tony reached over to stop him from doing that. “You’re hurting yourself so stop that.” 

Peter pulled his hands away from Tony and turned to him. “Don’t touch me. And stop saying that this is my family because it’s not! You aren’t letting me see my dad, he’s my family.” 

Tony stood up when Peter did, his back aching in the process from sitting on the cold, hard floor with Peter for over an hour. He had no idea what to say to Peter because everything that he wanted to say, Peter would just throw back at him. 

Peter looked up at him and waited for him to say something, when he didn’t, he stormed up the stairs but he had nowhere to go so he just sat down in the hallway against a wall. 

There was a small table with a bunch of pictures on it. He recognized himself again in practically all of the pictures so he kicked his leg out, accidentally hitting the table and causing a picture to fall onto the floor. 

His heart started to pound because now he was going to get in trouble so he picked up the frame and saw that the glass was broken and everywhere. 

Before he had the chance to do anything else, there was a voice behind him. “It’s alright. You have no idea how many picture frames that I’ve broken over the years.” 

Peter looked up and saw Harley walking over to him and bending down. Peter watched him. 

Harley grabbed the glass, put it into the frame and stood up. “Wanna come into my room?” 

Peter nodded his head and stood up to follow Harley down the long hallway. His bedroom was at the very end so he followed him in and stood there awkwardly as he looked around at everything. 

There was a bed in the middle of the room with metals all around. On shelves, the giant desk with a gaming computer on top and both nightstand tables. 

Harley placed the broken picture frame on the dresser and leaned against it. “It’s kinda messy but I did clean it up a bit.” 

Peter didn’t think it was messy. Besides for the pile of clothes in the corner. “Do you play um, sports?” 

Harley walked over and grabbed his biggest trophy then walked over to Peter. “Yeah. I play soccer in the summer and hockey in the winter. I won this at regionals two years ago. Wanna hold it?” 

“Yeah.” Peter carefully took the trophy from Harley and smiled a bit. It was so cool. “It’s heavy.” He chuckled. 

Harley smiled at him. “Yeah, it is. Do you play any sports?” He asked as he took the trophy back from Peter to put it back where it was. 

“Uh, no. I’m not good at that stuff.” Peter admitted. “I’m um, I like science and chemistry. Mostly.” 

Harley looked at him with a look that Peter couldn’t read. 

“You got that from our dad. He’s extremely smart.” 

Peter’s smile fell. Our dad. Our dad. He couldn’t comprehend that. This was his brother that he was talking to. His older brother who probably had so many memories of him. 

Harley must have sensed his uncomfortableness so he changed the subject. “So what else do you like? What’s your favourite colour? Favourite movie?” 

Peter shrugged awkwardly and tried to think about what to tell the older boy. “Um… I like Uh, I like Star Wars and playing with my legos. And Um, my neighbours have a pool so I like to go swimming in it sometimes but I kinda suck.” 

Harley laughed. “Well, we have a pool so maybe I could teach you how sometime. Plus it’s heated which is so much fun at nighttime.” 

Peter really liked that idea. His dad wasn’t a very good swimmer so he never learned how. “Yeah. Maybe sometime.” 

“You didn’t answer my other two questions.” 

Peter frowned. 

“Your favourite colour and favourite movie.” Harley clarified. 

“Oh yeah. Um, red is my favourite colour and Star Wars: A New Hope is my all time favourite movie.” Peter answered, remembering when he first saw it in the theatres with his best friend. “What about you?” 

A wide smile appeared across Harley’s lips. He sat down on the floor and Peter did too. “That’s a good question. I watch a new movie basically every weekend and then that one becomes my favourite so I’d have to say… Annabelle. And as for my favourite colour, blue.” 

Peter giggled and tucked his legs against his chest. “Scary movies are too scary to watch for me.” 

Harley laughed, not at him but with him. “Yeah, sometimes they can be pretty freaky. Especially with uh, dad because he always does something to scare us even more.” 

Peter laughed weakly. 

“So… what else? Do you go to school?” Harley asked him, not really sure if he should have asked that. 

Peter started playing with a loose string on his socks. “Uh huh. I’m in grade four.” 

“Oh. So how’s that? Do you have any girlfriends?” He teased but Peter immediately shook his head and gagged, causing Harley to laugh. 

“Ewwww. No. That’s nasty.” Peter answered then went wide eyed and looked at Harley. “Do you?” 

Harley nodded his head and started laughing again. “Yeah. I do.” 

Peter made gagging sounds again. “Ew. That’s so gross. Do you guys kiss?” Peter asked and whispered the last part which caused Harley to start laughing harder. 

“Sometimes, yeah.” He replied and stared at Peter. He couldn’t believe his baby brother was back. And that he was still so young. 

Peter shook his head while saying ‘ewewewew’. He stopped when Harley spoke again. 

“Do you have any pets at Uh, any pets?” He stumbled on his words. 

“No.” Peter said as if it was the end of the world. “I’m glad that you have a doggie. He’s cute. Is he allowed in your bedroom?” 

“Yeah. He’s allowed but he’ll only come up in the nighttime.” The older boy answered and continued to stare at Peter. There were so many more questions that he wanted to ask but he couldn’t. 

Peter turned around and saw the picture of Harley's nightstand table and immediately recognized his face again. 

Harley watched him. “That’s you and me. You must have been about three and I was about nine.” 

Peter grabbed the picture off the nightstand table and turned back around to face Harley. “Oh. Do you um, remember lots?” 

“Yeah. It helps that mom and dad talk about you every single day. There’s tons of pictures of you over the house and almost every night we all watch home videos of you.” Harley told him which really made Peter think about how he affected this family. 

“Oh. I don’t remember anything.” Peter answered a bit sadly. “Um, maybe one day I might be able to.” 

Harley nodded his head even though Peter wasn’t looking at him. “If you come here, I can show you something cool.” 

Peter looked over at Harley, confused then made his way over to him with the picture frame in his hand. Harley took it from him and opened up the back while Peter watched on curiously. He was sitting on his knees and had his hand placed on Harley’s thigh. Harley didn’t move but the small hand gesture made him smile. 

He didn’t comment on it as he pulled out an old piece of paper that had drawings on it with red crayon. “Even when you were younger, your favourite colour was always red.” 

Peter looked at the drawing. It was messy and he assumed that he did it. “Did I draw this?” 

Harley looked over and saw his dad standing in the doorway, watching them. He looked away from him so Peter didn’t look that way. “Yeah, you did. Quite the masterpiece, isn’t it?” 

Peter giggled and nodded his head. “Yeah.” 

“Hey, I got an idea.” Harley said with so much excitement. Peter looked at him curiously. 

“What is it?” 

“How about we go swimming right now? We can turn the pool heater on and go for a swim.” Harley suggested but Peter wasn’t so sure. He had no idea how to swim and he didn’t know if he was really in the mood for swimming. 

“I don’t know. I don’t even, um, have a bathing suit.” Peter shrugged his shoulders and curled in on himself. 

“That’s okay. I can find one of mine and I can just tie it up so it fits you.” Harley was already getting up and opening one of his dresser drawers to find a swimsuit. 

Peter didn’t say anything because he was actually a bit excited to go swimming. They had a whole pool in their backyard and got to go swimming whenever they wanted. 

Harley grabbed a pair that had sharks on it then handed them to Peter. “These are like two years old but I’ll still tie them up for you. You can go get changed in my bathroom if you want.” 

“Okay. Thank you.” Peter walked over to the bathroom and went wide eyed at how big it was. It was almost as nice as Tony’s and Pepper’s bathroom but not quite. 

He took off all of his clothes and put on the borrowed swim shorts, feeling extremely uncomfortable at how low they went and how uncomfortable it was going to be in the water. 

When he walked out of the bathroom, holding them up so they didn’t fall down, he stood there uncomfortably while he waited for Harley to come and help him. “Um… maybe it’s just a bit too big.” 

Harley looked over at him and chuckled. “Maybe a bit bigger than that. Let me help you.” 

As Harley grabbed the waistband to help him, he thought back to last night when Tony had helped him tie up his pyjama pants. They both did it with so much love and care that it had a faint smile appearing on his face but then he realized what he was doing and quickly stopped. 

“That should do. Dad’ll order you some clothes.” Harley was saying and didn’t even realize what he said until Peter was speaking. 

“He’s not my dad. And he doesn’t have to do that because I’ll be leaving soon anyways.” 

Harley looked at him. “I know this is all so hard for you and I can’t even imagine but he is your dad. He’s our dad and he always will be.” 

Peter shook his head. “I already have a dad.” 

“Oh yeah? Where is he then?” Harley asked, not knowing if he should have said that but it was hard for him too. 

Peter looked away. He didn’t know the answer to that question. He wished he did but what was most hurting him was the fact that his dad hadn’t come for him yet. 

That part hurt the most. 

Harley knew that Peter wasn’t going to say anything but he got him thinking so he sighed. “How about we go swimming. It’s a great day to learn how.” 

“Okay.” 

After Harley was changed, they both made their way downstairs and towards the back door so they could go outside in the backyard. On their way past the kitchen, Tony and Pepper were looking at them with a shocked yet happy look on their faces. 

“I’m gonna go teach Peter how to swim because he doesn’t know how.” Harley said, mainly to his father who looked frozen on the spot as he stared at Peter. 

Pepper looked a bit paranoid. “Alright. Have fun boys. I’m making lunch so maybe we can eat outside then. And Harley, watch him.” 

Harley gave her a thumbs up then the two of them were leaving. 

He wouldn’t let anything happen to Peter because that’s what big brothers are for. 

He thinks that he will always feel this overwhelming protectiveness to protect his only little brother from everything because of what they all went through. 

Tony watched the two head outside and turned to Pepper when he heard the door shut. “He was wearing Harley's old swimsuit. We have to get him some stuff.” 

Pepper was looking out the kitchen window at them. “Yeah.” She put her hand over her face to stop the tears from coming once again, but this time, in so long, they were happy tears. “Maybe we should sit down with him tonight. We Uh, we have to get basically everything for his bedroom.” 

“Yeah.” Tony said but he wasn’t even listening. “Do you think he’ll be mad if I go out and join them?” 

Pepper turned back around to look outside. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.” 

“I want to just go and sit on the pool chair to just watch them. I won’t even talk.” Tony was saying as he was already making his way outside to watch his boys, something he never thought he would be lucky enough to think again. 

Pepper didn’t try to stop him so Tony went outside without being seen by Peter but Harley only. He sat on one of the patio chairs and watched the two interact. 

Harley had turned the pool heater on already and was standing in the shallow end while Peter was standing at the edge. “Just jump in. It’s not that deep in this spot, I promise you.” 

Peter shook his head and wrapped his arms around his stomach. “No. Maybe I’ll just walk in.” 

“It’ll be super cold that way.” Harley told him so he knew what he was expecting by getting in that way. Peter then hesitated. 

“Do you have a pool floaty? I always swim with one.” Peter asked, he had never once gotten into the pool without something to hold onto that wasn’t a pool floaty or his dad in the shallow end. 

Harley walked out of the pool. “Yeah. We have a bunch of stuff.” He opened up the sauna room that they only used for storing all of the pool toys. 

Peter followed him and looked inside. His eyes went wide at seeing everything. There was a giant shark floaty that matched his bathing suit. “Can we bring that one in?” 

“Yeah. This one is so much fun because you can sit inside and feel like you’re floating above everything.” Harley said as he took it out and handed it to Peter. “Can you throw it into the pool?” 

Peter could barely hold onto the giant floaty. He walked to the edge of the pool and went to throw it in while Harley was watching him the whole time. “Don’t go so close to the edge.” 

Peter slowly walked over to Harley and looked up at him. “I didn’t.” 

“Alright. Let’s put some more stuff in there.” The older boy said but Peter spotted something and wanted it. 

“The life jacket. Then I can jump in the deep end.” Peter pointed to the blue and yellow life jacket for Harley to grab for him. “Thanks.” 

“You don’t need that if I’m teaching you how to swim.” Harley told him but he didn’t want to say no to Peter. 

“I do. I can’t swim without it.” Peter told Harley then got it on and waited for Harley to walk out first. 

Peter ran over to the deep end and stood at the edge of the pool but hesitated. “You can do it. Jump Peter!” 

Peter plugged his nose and jumped into the water and immediately bounced right back up to the surface with a huge smile on his face. He looked at Harley who was now in the water as well and who had the biggest smile on his face. 

“And I thought you said you didn’t know how to swim?” Harley asked him as he swam over to Peter to give him a high five. 

Peter laughed and kicked his legs under the water. “I don’t but now you can teach me.” 

“Yeah but you have to take the life jacket off first.” Harley told him but Peter shook his head, panic appearing on his face. 

“No. I can’t.” 

“Sure you can. You won’t drown, I’ll be here the whole time.” Harley reassured him and looked over Peter’s shoulder where his dad was sitting and watching them on one of the outdoor chairs. 

Peter shook his head again. “No. I can’t. If I do, I’ll sink to the bottom and my bathing suit or hair will get stuck in the jets and I’ll die. So I can’t.” 

Harley was taken back with the detailed description. “That’s not true. Has that happened to you before?” 

“No. But my dad said it will happen if I take my life jacket off.” Peter told him as if he actually believed the story that he was told. 

On the pool deck, Tony was furious. 

Firstly, because Peter called his kidnapper ‘dad’ and second, this man was lying to his child once again. Rogers was scaring the poor child into never learning how to swim and never taking off his life jacket. He was sick. 

Harley made eye contact with Tony and then looked back at Peter. “Well you know he was lying to you, right? Just like he lied to you about so many other things in your life-” 

“Stop it.” Peter demanded and furrowed his eyebrows at the older boy. “Don’t say that.” 

“What? The truth. C’mon, Peter,” Harley desperately said, wanting Peter to understand. “he isn’t your dad, you do know that, don’t you?” 

Peter shook his head. “He is.” 

“Who is your biological father? You told me that you’re good at science. Do you know what biological means?” Harley asked him honestly because maybe Peter truly didn’t understand. 

Peter looked at him like he had two heads and it reminded him so much of the way Tony looks at times. “Obviously. I’m not five.” 

“So then tell me. Biologically, who's your father?” Harley asked, wanting to know the answer. 

Peter looked around uncomfortably. He knew the answer but he didn’t like the answer. “Who your dad is. I know that now.” 

“And that makes us brothers. And Morgan is your sister and my mom is your mom.” Harley added for him but Peter didn’t respond. He didn’t like to hear about that because it hurt. 

It hurt to know the truth. That he was lied to his whole life by the one person he was supposed to put all of his trust in. By the person who was supposed to love him the most. 

Harley looked over at his dad who looked a mixture of sad and angry. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you want to see something cool?” 

The frown disappeared from Peter’s face. He nodded his head and waited for Harley to show him. 

Harley swam towards the deep end a bit and then went under and a few seconds later, his feet appeared out of the water from the underwater handstand. 

Peter laughed at how weird it looked to see two feet sticking out of the water so when Harley came back up, he laughed at him. “That was weird. And you have really hairy legs.” 

“Wha-” Harley was shocked at that extremely random comment. “I guess I do then. Well let’s see your legs. I bet you are as hairy as me.” 

Peter stuck his legs up in the air the best he could by staying afloat with his life jacket to show Harley his legs. “Nope. I don’t have any hair anywhere on my body. But my head. And my eyebrows. That would be weird.” 

Harley noticed the lack of hair on Peter’s legs. “Yeah, then you’d look like a Sphynx.” 

Peter started laughing so hard that he was tipping forward in his life jacket so Harley pulled him back up by the back straps. “Finally. Someone who finds me funny.” 

Peter slowly stopped his belly laugh in time for Pepper to pop her head out of the door. “Lunch is going to be ready in five minutes. Harls, do you mind quickly running over to the neighbours to grab Morgan. She knows she’s coming home early.” 

“Sure. Why not because I’m already soaking wet.” Harley said sarcastically and lifted himself out of the water. “I’ll be back in like two minutes.” 

Peter nodded his head and then spotted Tony who was sitting there on a chair. “Hi.” 

“Hey, bud. Are you having fun?” Tony asked and stood up to walk over to the pool stairs so he could put his feet in. 

Peter swam over to him and kneeled on the step so he was still in the water but close to an adult. “Uh huh. Um, do you know how to swim?” 

Tony smiled at him. “I can. Do you know how?” Tony asked him but he already knew the answer, he was just trying to bond with his son. 

Peter shook his head. “No. I never learned.” Peter looked down at his hands and felt like he was having an out of body experience all of the sudden. He was talking to his real dad. His biological dad. 

“Well Harley’s a good teacher but I can teach you too if you want. I mean, I’m the one who taught him.” Tony chuckled and Peter smiled weakly so Tony counted that as a win. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the back door in time to see Pepper walk out with some plates and cups. He looked away from her as well because he felt out of place. 

If he was back at home with his dad, he would be hanging around him the whole time he cooked, talking his ear off about one thing or the other and now he didn’t think he could do that. 

Tony was looking at him the whole time but Peter didn’t understand why the man kept staring at him. He wasn’t that interesting. 

It looked like Tony was about to say something but then Harley was walking back into the backyard with Morgan holding onto his hand. 

She immediately ran over to Pepper and wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. Peter smiled at the obvious love between the two. He then looked away because he never had that, even when he always so desperately wanted it. 

“Lunch is ready.” Pepper called out to everyone and disappeared back in the house. 

Tony was still looking at Peter as he stood up. “Take that off, bud, then let’s go eat.” 

Peter hesitated. He smelt the food and guessed that it was burgers with fries. One of his favourite meals so he was excited but that also meant he had to sit down with these people who are strangers to him but he’s family to them. 

Peter stood up and got out of the water anyways. He felt the water fall off of him since his bathing suit was huge and quite uncomfortable. He undid the life jacket buckles and placed it on the ground before shyly walking over to the table where Morgan was sitting then Pepper walked out, placed drinks on the table and sat next to Morgan. 

Peter stood there because he didn’t know where he fit. He knew that he didn’t belong with this family, it wasn’t where he was meant to be. 

Although his life was simple with not much family, he was happy with his dad and that was all that mattered… at the time. Now, he wasn’t so sure. 

Harley sat down across from Pepper, leaving Peter an open seat. Peter still didn’t move so Tony turned to him. “Come sit, Pete.” 

Peter was about to shake his head and say that he didn’t want to but then Asier walked up beside him and licked his hand. Peter smiled down at the dog and then followed him over to the seat. When he sat down, Asier said down under his feet which made Peter feel a lot better. 

After watching Peter for some time, Tony sat himself down at the head of the table and looked at his family. 

Everyone who was supposed to be there, was there. For the first time ever. Everyone was where they were supposed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter. Ahh I’m sorry for the confusion on the other 3 chapters, I edited it now so it’s all fixed but just to clarify again,, Peter is 10. Morgan is 6. Harley is 16. Anddddd I think I answered one of you guys saying that peter is in grade 3 but he’s actually in grade 4. Sorry for all the confusion but that’s because I changed his age half way through so there’s a lot to edit but don’t worry about that anywaysssssss
> 
> Here’s a link if Peter’s baby blanket that he had before he was kidnapped and now has it back: 
> 
> https://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/roedhake-blanket-striped-white-red__0715259_PE730398_S5.JPG?f=s
> 
> Also, I don’t know if any of you guys have seen the movie ‘life as we know it’ it’s my favourite movie ever and I was trying to find a house that the Starks lived In and I couldn’t find one then I remembered this house and how I’m so in love with it so this is their house. The Starks house!! 
> 
> And when I write the scenes and picture them, I’m picturing what this house looks like on the inside for the most part:) 
> 
> Stark house: 
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/79/73/e479737b8088572e7ad519cbcf44ffbf.jpg
> 
> Kitchen: 
> 
> https://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Kitchen-from-Life-As-We-Know-It-Movie-1.jpg


	5. Trying to find who I really am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys!!! How is everyone doinggggggg??? 
> 
> I feel so bad for Peter ahhhh!!

The dinner was fine. 

Peter stayed quiet the whole time and ate his food which was amazing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a cheeseburger that was so good. 

He listened to the family talk about nothing in particular. He learnt that Morgan was at the top of her swim class and that she had over one thousand teddy bears which Peter was dying to see. 

He was a sucker for anything soft so to see one thousand teddy bears, that would be fun for him and he would probably claim a few. 

As the dinner went on, he learned about how Tony and Pepper met and how it took them ten years to fall in love with each other and actually admit it to one another. Peter didn’t understand why someone would want to wait ten whole years to wait for happiness like that… it seemed like a waste of time to him. 

It was nice to listen to his fa- the family talk. They tried to include him but he stayed quiet and gave one word answers. 

Tony did the same. 

Peter didn’t understand why Tony was so shy. It wasn’t like he had any reason to be but he barely said a word and every time he looked at the man, he had a smile on his face. 

After dinner was over, Peter sat at the edge of the pool and watched Harley and Morgan swim some more but he didn’t want to get in. 

It was hard to watch the siblings play fight and be so free and comfortable around each other. Peter knew that he was supposed to be fitting in there somewhere but he wasn’t and that hurt. 

Later that night, after dinner and after they all went inside, Tony walked into the kitchen where Peter was sitting on the kitchen stool drinking a smoothie and spoke. “Are you cold? You’ve been in that damp bathing suit all day.” 

Peter shrugged. He was cold now only because he was half naked and drinking a cold drink. “A little.” 

“I got some stuff for you to change into after you shower.” Tony said, holding out his arm for Peter to follow him. 

Peter turned back to his drink and looked inside. “I’m not done my drink yet.” 

Tony let his arm fall to his side. “Alright… well, when you are done, can you come upstairs into mine and your m- Pepper’s bedroom?” 

Peter just nodded his head. The truth was, he wouldn’t mind if Tony had slipped up and called Pepper his mom. Maybe it would have felt good to hear. 

Tony left after that, leaving Peter alone. 

It took Peter twice as long to finish drinking his smoothie. He didn’t want to go upstairs and listen to what they were going to say to him. He didn’t want to do anything but go back home. 

When Peter finished, he slowly put his cup into the sink and went to walk upstairs but he found Morgan sitting on the kitchen steps leading up to the hallway. He paused. 

“Hi. Are you coming to live with us forever now?” She asked him but Peter didn’t know the answer to that question. 

Instead, he said what he would want to happen. “No. I’m going back home next time Natasha comes.” 

Morgan frowned and tilted her head at Peter. “Why?” 

“Because my dad is waiting for me.” Peter answered, not knowing if Steve was waiting for him or not. He hoped so. 

“Oh. Well… daddy said that he’s your daddy too so…” 

“Well… he’s not.” Peter crossed his arms and looked at the girl. She was annoying because she asked too many questions. 

Him and Morgan stared at each other for a few long seconds before Morgan was standing up and walking to the hallway but stopping to look back at Peter. “Can I show you my one thousand teddy bears now?” 

A faint smile appeared on Peter’s lips. “Yeah.” 

He followed the six year old girl down the hallway but stopped at a door which Peter guessed was the basement. “Open it because I can’t.” 

Peter looked at the child safety lock but paused. He didn’t know how to open it either but he tried anyway. He struggled at first but two people needed to open it at once. “Turn it as well.” 

Morgan did as she was told and then with the two of them opening a door that wasn’t meant to be opened by them, opened up. 

“Yay!” The six year old cheered so she turned the light on on the side wall and started to walk down the stairs. 

Peter followed her down the stairs of the finished basement and noticed how giant the basement was once they got down there. There was an arcade room, a theatre, a small kitchen and a playroom. 

“This way, Peter. We have to be quick because we’re not allowed down here.” Morgan whispered so Peter continued to follow her into the playroom and sat down on the fluffy carpet. 

“Why aren’t we allowed down here?” Peter asked Morgan who gave him a look that said duh. He raised his eyebrows at her. “What?” 

“Because… of the lock on the door, obviously. And I thought you were like daddy’s twin with how smart you are.” Morgan rolled her eyes at him which left Peter dumbfounded. 

“Uh… well, I’m not daddy’s twin. I mean, dad, your dad, he’s not my dad.” Peter told her, it felt exhausting having to tell everyone this all the time. 

Morgan didn’t answer him. Instead, she walked over to another door and opened it. “Follow me.” 

“Another door?” Peter asked in disbelief then he stood up and followed her into another, smaller room that had plastic containers and toys everywhere. “Woah. It’s so cool in here.” 

Morgan sat down on a mini slide that was in the room so Peter followed her and sat down on the floor. 

“This room,” She spread her arms wide for emphasis. “is where I keep all one thousand of my teddy bears.” She then opened up a bin and dumped it, emptying about fifty teddy bears onto the ground. 

Peter stretched his legs out in front of him and grabbed a pile of the teddy’s. “Woah.” 

Back upstairs, Tony walked down the stairs and ran a hand over his face. It was past ten at night and usually, he would have Peter in bed at eight but because everything was still so new to them, he would let them adjust to everything first. 

Tony walked into the kitchen but he didn’t see Peter there. “Peter?” 

Tony’s immediate reaction was to look at the back door to see if Peter ran out but they had over five doors leading to outside. Although every single one of those doors were locked and had an alarm on them so if Peter opened one, they would know. 

He felt his heart start to pound a bit as he walked across the hall and into the next room but still no sign of Peter. “Peter? Where are you?” 

Tony started picking up his pace, he ran upstairs and down towards the end of the hallway, barging into Harleys bedroom. 

“Hello, dad?” Harley said annoyed at Tony not knocking but Tony didn’t care. 

“Is Peter in here?” Tony asked but he didn’t see his other son. 

That got Harley concerned now. “No. Why? You can’t find him? Did he leave the house?” 

Tony was already walking back down the hallway. He walked back into his own bedroom because maybe he missed Peter walking up. “Pepper, is Peter in here?” 

“No. I thought you were going to get him?” Pepper asked, already putting down the clothes that she was folding and making her way past Tony and Harley to rush down the stairs. 

Both boys followed behind her and rushed down the stairs. Harley checked the front door while Pepper ran towards the kitchen. 

Tony was about to have a fucking panic attack if they didn’t find Peter soon. It was almost like that day they first lost Peter seven years ago. 

What a fucking nightmare that day was. 

Tony ran shaky hands through his hair just as Pepper spoke up. “Tony. The basement door is open.” 

Tony walked over to her and saw that it was in fact opened and the light was on. 

He ran down the stairs without a second thought and heard laughter which had him sighing in relief but he didn’t know what Peter was laughing about. He was by himself. 

He followed the sounds and saw that the door to Morgan’s teddy bear collection was open so he already knew who was the mastermind behind this. 

He stood in the doorway. “What is going on down here?” 

Both Peter and Morgan froze. 

The smile fell from Peter’s face as he turned towards Tony and looked up at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m sorry, daddy. I just wanted to show Peter my one thousand teddy bears.” Morgan said, standing up and going over to hug Tony. 

Tony placed his hand on her head just as Pepper appeared in the doorway. “Morgan. It’s past your bedtime.” 

Tony looked back at Peter who looked like he was waiting to get screamed at and that broke Tony’s heart. He wondered if that man that screamed at his son for doing something bad. 

He squatted down so he was closer to Peter’s level. “I’m sorry.” Peter said, barely above a whisper. 

Tony gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. No one is mad at you. We were just scared, that’s all.” 

Peter slowly nodded his head but he was still waiting to get a slap across the butt and get sent to his bedroom. Although… he had no room here. 

“How about Morgan shows you her abnormally large collection tomorrow when it’s not past bedtimes? Then you guys can do whatever you want down here then.” Tony told Peter but also for Morgan to hear. 

Peter nodded his head quickly with his mouth still hung open. Tony stood up and grabbed onto Morgan’s hand so Peter took that as his opportunity to stand up as well and follow the three of them upstairs. 

On the way up, Tony passed by all of the bottles of alcohol and thought that he would never feel the urge to come down and almost drink himself into a coma whenever the overwhelming mourning of Peter gets too much to bare. 

They all made their way upstairs and found Harley waiting for them at the top. Tony squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. He knew how hard it was for Harley to go down there after that one incident. 

Tony had found Harley sitting at the bar with an empty bottle of vodka in front of him. Harley had gotten drunk for his first time just over a year ago because he missed his little brother so much and saw Tony doing it so he wanted to forget everything for a little while as well. 

It was Tony’s fault. 

He wasn’t mad at Harley but they did have a long talk about it the next day. 

Harley hasn’t been down there since. 

Tony picked Morgan up and set her on his hip. “I’m gonna bring her back up to bed.” 

Pepper pressed a goodnight kiss to Morgan’s face and then Tony was leaving. 

Peter watched Pepper shut the basement door and put the child lock back on. “Did you take this off, Peter?” 

Peter shook his head. “Me and Morgan did.” 

“Alright. We don’t want you doing that again, do you understand?” Pepper told him but it didn’t sound like she was mad, more concerned. 

Peter nodded his head and looked at Harley who looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He wondered if that was his fault. 

When they all went upstairs, Harley went into his bedroom and Pepper led him back into the room where he slept last night. Peter stood there uncomfortably. He realized how tired he was now and how badly he wanted to change into comfortable clothes and fall asleep. 

Pepper placed a stack of clothes on the bed and then handed a pair of pyjamas to him. Peter took them from her. “We ordered you some clothes earlier today so I washed them so they’d be ready for you to wear.” 

“Oh. Thank you.” Peter said, standing there awkwardly and shifted his feet on the floor. 

“Do you need help turning on the shower?” She asked him, already walking into the bathroom and turning the light on. 

Peter followed her and placed his clean pyjamas on the bathroom counter top as he watched her turn the shower on. Peter had never been in a glass shower before. All the showers that he’d been in had curtains. This shower looked huge. 

“If you need to turn it hotter or colder, it’s a bit tricky so you just pull it out and turn.” Pepper explained then opened up a long cabinet with mirrors on the outside and pulled out a towel. “I have a new toothbrush here for you as well. If you need anything else, I’ll be right outside, okay?” 

Peter wanted to cry. Pepper was being so nice to him and he couldn’t help but want to run into her arms and beg her to hold him. He missed out on so much. 

She went to close the bathroom door but Peter didn’t like it when doors were fully closed. “Wait! Can you just, I want it open a bit.” 

Peter opened the door so it was not completely shut. He didn’t know why he always had that weird habit. He just liked it when he didn’t feel trapped somewhere. 

Once he felt better, he undid the tie in his bathing suit and stepped out of it. 

When Peter walked into the shower, a smile spread across his lips at how cool it was. There were three jets in the shower which weren’t on but he was excited to possibly see what they could do one day. 

He let the water wash over him and grabbed some shampoo bottles to see which one smelt the best so he could use it in his hair. 

After he was done, it took a few seconds for him to figure out how to turn off the water. 

Once he figured that out, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel to dry his hair off and wrap it around his shoulders. 

He picked up the new toothbrush but looked around for the fruity toothpaste. Seeing none, he opened the door fully and saw that Tony had walked into the room. They both looked at him. “Um… where’s the fruity toothpaste?” 

Tony stood up and walked into the bathroom so Peter stepped aside. “Uh, is there none in there?” Peter shook his head. “Well, we didn’t actually know what toothpaste you um, liked but I think Morgan has some in the bathroom so let me go check.” 

Peter nodded his head and watched Tony leave the room. He put his toothbrush down and went to crawl onto the bed. He looked over at Pepper. “I’m not brushing my teeth without fruity toothpaste.” 

“We have mint toothpaste if you-” 

Peter was already shaking his head. “No. I won’t.” 

“That’s okay.” She said. Peter wondered if it were Morgan or Harley if she would be saying that or if it was just him. Because she didn’t want to say no to him for whatever reason. 

When Tony walked back into the room, he held up a fruity toothpaste. Peter slid off the bed and pulled his towel more secure around him. “Thank you.” 

“Yeah, we’ll just be waiting outside.” Tony said and went to go shut the door but Peter yelled. 

“No! Wait, just leave it half open.” 

Tony left it open and sat down on the bed with Pepper. “We have to talk to him about getting stuff for his new bedroom.” 

“I know. Should we save it for tomorrow night though? I don’t know how he’ll react to it tonight.” Pepper asked, they had a pretty good first day with their ups and downs but she didn’t want to end it on a bad note. 

“No. He needs to get settled into his own bed in his own room. I want him to know that this is permanent.” Tony pulled his computer onto his lap but saved space so Peter could sit next to him and not in the middle. 

Peter walked out of the bathroom, dressed in his new pyjamas that actually fit him. Tony and Pepper both silently cooed. 

“Um, where am I going to sleep?” Peter asked, followed by a yawn. 

“You’re going to sleep here again but first Pepper and I want to get some things for you first.” Tony patted the spot next to him but Peter didn’t move. 

“Then where will you guys sleep?” He asked, making no move to climb onto the bed. 

“Well, we have some things that we need to do so we won’t be sleeping any time soon.” Pepper answered for Tony then Peter made his way over to the bed and climbed on. 

He began looking around the bed for something and after a few seconds of him looking, Tony asked, “What’re you looking for?” 

“My blanket.” Peter answered then sat up on his knees and pulled the blankets back roughly. 

“Woah, okay. Um, let’s do that calmly.” Tony spoke and moved a bit so he could help Peter look for the blanket. He pulled the part of the bed down that he was sitting on and grabbed it. “Found it.” 

“You were sitting on it?” Peter asked as he snatched the blanket from Tony. 

Tony stared at him. “Yeah, sorry, Pete. He didn’t say anything so I couldn’t hear him.” Tony joked but Peter was still looking at him as if he had torn the blanket apart. “He’s alright, right, blankie?” Tony asked, joking around like he does for Morgan but Peter was now looking at him with a boring look on his face. 

“I’m not a baby.” He said then got comfortable on the bed. 

Tony knew that. Peter was stolen from them when he was a baby but to Tony, Peter would always be his baby. It was so hard to picture him any other way with Peter sitting there with his blanket clutched against his chest. 

He looked away to pull his computer back onto his lap. “We ordered you some clothes but we obviously need to get more. But right now, we need to order some things for your bedroom.” 

Once Tony said that, Peter tensed up. “But… I’m going back with Natasha in two days so there’s really no point.” 

Tony didn’t know what to say or do to get Peter to understand that this was permanent. He wasn’t going to leave them again. 

“Peter,” Tony said, turning to his side so he was fully facing Peter. “this situation is permanent. You were always supposed to be with us. You aren’t going back to what is now, your old life.” 

Peter shook his head and covered his face with the blanket. “It’s not permanent. Everyone keeps saying that and it’s not.” 

“Peter,” Pepper reached over Tony to place her hand on Peter’s back. “we all love you so much. We’re your family and I know it’s really hard for you but-” 

“No!” Peter screamed and rolled onto his side so Pepper could stop talking and touching him. “I just want to go back home. To my dad! You guys j-just won’ let me!” 

Peter let out a violent sob and turned around so he was facing away from the two people who claimed to love him. If they truly did, they would let him go. 

“You’re our son, Peter. You do not belong with the man who you think is your father.” Tony tried not to let that burn. It hurt so much to hear his son call his kidnapper the title that he was supposed to receive. 

Peter lifted his head up and wiped at his cheeks. “When-when my daddy comes back for me… I’ll have to c-choose him or you guys and I’ll choose him.” 

Both parents stayed silent. 

That was possibly the worst thing Peter could ever say to them. 

Tony would be okay if Peter swore at him and told him that he hated his guts because that was all the anger speaking but this, this was something that Peter had been thinking about. This had been on his mind ever since he got there and he would choose his kidnapper over his real family. 

It fucking hurt. 

Pepper got off the bed and walked out of the room. Tony watched Peter’s eyes follow her out of the room then they landed right onto Tony’s. Peter then looked away. 

“I want to go home. Please Tony.” Peter begged, voice shaky from crying. 

Tony hated how he got the title ‘Tony’ and Peter’s kidnapper got the title ‘daddy’. It wasn’t fair. 

“This is your home now, Peter. We can make it your home if you’d let us. But in order to do that, you need to get stuff for your bedroom, like a bed, a dresser, a desk, things like that.” Tony told Peter who was lying on his stomach and had his arm outstretched as if he wanted Tony to hold his hand. 

When Peter stayed silent, Tony spoke again. “Do you wanna know what Harley told me today?” 

Out of curiosity, Peter nodded his head. “Well… he told me that you like legos. Do you build a lot of legos?” 

Peter wiped at his nose on the bed and sat up a bit. “Uh huh.” 

“Yeah?” Tony loved how he was getting somewhere with his kid. “What kind of things do you build?” 

Peter moved a bit closer and laid his head down. “Um… my lego Star Wars. And… and my best friend Ned’s mom got him the um, Death Star and we built it last week. It was fun.” 

Tony got himself more comfortable on the bed, pushing his computer off to the side since he knew they wouldn’t get to that tonight. “That sounds like fun. What else do you and Ned like to do?” 

“Um… he sleeps over at my house sometimes. I’m not allowed sleeping over at his house. And um, sometimes we go to the movies but only early movies because I’m not allowed out after dark.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and thought about all of the things that he wasn’t allowed to do in his life that other children were allowed to do. 

Now he knew why. 

Tony listened to Peter talk and his heart broke for him even more. “So this is your first time sleeping anywhere else but your own bed?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Uh huh. I guess. Well, sometimes we go to his friends house and me and my um, well, me and my dad went to a hotel but I wasn’t allowed to leave our room. He was. I wasn’t.” 

“I’m sorry.” Tony whispered. He didn’t know what he was saying sorry for. Everything for the past seven years. For not finding Peter sooner. For letting him leave his sight all those years ago. 

Peter didn’t reply. He rubbed at his eyes and held his blanket to his chest, shutting his eyes. “You’re not the one who has to say sorry to me.” 

Tony didn’t exactly know who Peter was referring to but he had an idea. “How about we order some stuff tomorrow? You get some sleep.” 

With a slight nod, Peter shut his eyes and heard Tony stand up, turn the bathroom light on then leave the bedroom. 

Tony leaned against the hallway wall and sighed. He knew that this was not going to be easy for any of them but at least they were getting somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you guys doing during this pandemic? How are you feeling? You can rant to me all you want and just get it out. 
> 
> For anyone who cares, I’ll tell you how it’s going for me. It sucks. Obviously and I’m miserable but tbhh I was miserable way before the pandemic started so like Idkk. I’m just trying to change my life and be happy for once. It doesn’t help that I have like absolutely no one to talk to at all lol I was telling two of my friends (one over text and one in person) that I am really struggling mentally and one of them literally changed the subject even tho I’m ALWAYS there for her and the other literally said nothing soo like lol anyways I don’t want to depress you guys with my life but honestly when do you consider being unhappy and sad all the time, depression? Idkkk but on a happier note I love my kitten so freaking much idkkk what I would do without him:))


	6. You are the reason that I’m still breathing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiii guys!! I almost forgot to post this chapter ahhhh
> 
> Also how is September already over omg I swear August was like 5 years long and September is almost over?! Whatttt!? I’m so excited for Halloween! It’s my all time favourite holiday even tho I won’t be dressing up but I’m dressing my kitten up and having a photo shoot with him and I’m decorating my room on October 1 :))

Tony sat down next to Pepper on the couch. 

No one said anything for the longest time but they were both thinking about the same thing. The same thing that they were always thinking about. Peter. 

After what felt like hours, Pepper spoke. “How is he?” 

“He’s… adjusting.” Tony answered because he didn’t really know what else to say. Peter was adjusting as well as anyone could imagine for the life that they lived. 

“I mean… after I left?” 

“Uh… well, he stopped crying. Um, I think it’s best that we do the whole bedroom thing tomorrow. He’s exhausted. I’m exhausted and I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.” Tony stood you and started pacing. He felt like he was failing as a parent. 

“You don’t think I know what I’m doing? This is harder than when we first became parents when we brought Harley home from the hospital.” Pepper shot back at him. “But we took it one day at a time. Some days were fucking hard and others were some of our best memories.” 

Tony picked up a pillow and threw it. “You think these are going to be shit days and memories that we’re going to look back on when we’re old?” Tony asked with a dry chuckle. “He is calling his kidnapper fucking daddy! Right in front of me.” 

“Lower your voice or you’ll wake the kids.” Pepper warned him so Tony collapsed onto the couch and sighed heavily. 

“I swear to god, I will kill that fucking bastard.” Tony said in a low voice. He wanted to see that man dead. “He stole everything from us.” 

“They will find him and he will go to jail.” Pepper reassured him but it wasn’t enough. 

“I want him dead. I want him dead and as far away from Peter as possible.” Tony felt his eyes burn with what he lost. “He… he did everything. All the firsts. He… that man raised my son. He ripped him from our lives and… I can’t.” 

Tony leaned forward with his head in his hands. He wanted to scream and just let it all out. He wanted to go back to the beginning and never take Peter to the park that cursed day. 

He wanted his kid back. 

Tony stood up and walked over to the basement door. 

Pepper lived this night way too many times and she was not going to let her husband get drunk when Peter is under the same roof. 

Tony opened the child safety lock and went down the stairs. Pepper was right behind him. “Tony, I swear to god if you open a bottle I will take all three kids and I will leave.” 

Tony ignored her. 

“I will leave, Tony. So help me god I will. If you open that bottle.” Pepper spoke with conviction but Tony was barely listening to her. 

He opened the bottle of vodka, looked at it for a few seconds before pouring it down the sink. 

He did the same with the other bottles of alcohol until all that was left was a bunch of empty glass bottles. 

Pepper broke down crying and walked over so she was on the other side of the island. So placed her head on Tony’s chest and cried against him like so many times before although this time she was crying for a different reason. A much better reason. 

“Thank you. Thank you.” She cried against him while Tony continued to hold her. He looked over at all his empty bottles and wanted them gone. He never wanted to see them again or get drunk under this roof ever again because now, there was no reason to. 

After putting all of the bottles into the garbage in the garage to be taken care of tomorrow, the two of them sat down on the couch and cuddled up against each other, watching the tv that was playing some show on low volume in the background. 

They heard the floor creak from the hallway and both of them expected to see Morgan making her way down for some late night cuddles or a snack but instead, they saw Peter. 

Tony unwrapped his arm from around Pepper’s shoulders and leaned forward to see Peter better. “Hey, bud.” 

Peter shifted closer but didn’t look at them. “Um… I can’t sleep.” 

“Do you want to come sit here with us until you get really sleepy?” Pepper asked in a gentle voice. Watching Pepper become a mom, made Tony fall in love with her all over again. 

Peter nodded his head and walked over to the couch. He took a seat next to Pepper instead of Tony and that hurt him a bit but he didn’t say anything. Peter moved himself closer so that he was pressed up against Pepper’s side. 

She felt her heart beating faster because she couldn’t believe that Peter had willingly sat so close to her. 

No one said anything for a few seconds. Peter was just enjoying being close to his mom. He always knew that he was never going to feel what it was like to be held by his mother but now he was and he loved it. 

He turned so he was facing her and he reached out to her neck to play with her necklace. “What’s your guys’ last name?” 

Tony loved how Peter was asking them questions. As simple as it was, it was huge to them. 

“It’s Stark.” Pepper answered him as she watched her son. 

Peter nodded his head. “Stark. That’s a nice name.” 

Both parents were speechless. Peter was sitting so close to Pepper. And he wasn’t doing it in his sleep. 

He stopped playing with Pepper’s necklace and let his legs hang off of the couch. 

Pepper immediately missed the warmth and desperately wanted to pull Peter back against her side. 

Peter swung his legs up and down and thought about what he wanted to ask them next when a question came to mind. “What are your jobs?” 

Tony smirked at his kid. “Well, I own my own company called Stark Industries. Although I work from home now and I just go in from time to time.” 

Peter continued on swinging his legs as Pepper spoke. “And I’m the CEO. I do a lot more work plus I take care of all the kids and the house which is a lot harder than running a company.” 

Peter smiled a bit. “I’ve never heard of the company. What’s it Um, like what do you like do?” 

“It’s a tech company. As well as other things.” Tony added, not knowing if he should get into everything tonight with Peter. 

Peter looked over at him. “Harley said you’re smart. And that-that I got it from you because I like science. Is that true?” 

Tony was overwhelmed with so much love and happiness. He hoped this would help them bond and let Peter go to them with more stuff. “Yeah. You’ve always been so smart so I can just imagine how smart you are now. One day I’ll take you to my tower and bring you down to one of my labs.” 

Peter’s eyes went wide. “You have a tower? Is it like in Rapunzel?” 

Both adults laughed at that but Tony shook his head. “No. My tower is a lot better than that pile of rocks.” 

“Hey, Rapunzel is my all time favourite Disney movie.” Peter admitted but then thought about it for a second. “Actually, Frozen is my favourite movie but only because Let it go is my all time favourite song.” 

“Oh! Don’t let Morgan hear you say that. She will make you watch it fifty times tomorrow.” Tony joked but he loved that he just learned two new things about Peter, as simple as they were. 

Peter shrugged with a smile on his face. “Oh well. I’m okay with that.” 

“You say that now but tomorrow, you’ll be begging me to turn it off.” Tony grinned at Peter and felt his heart speed up when Peter grinned back but then looked away and yawned. 

As much as Tony wanted to stay up and talk to Peter all night, it was almost two in the morning so he had to get Peter back to bed. 

Thankfully Pepper was thinking the same thing so he didn’t have to be the bad guy since bedtime in the Stark house was always the end of the world. 

“I hate to say this but it’s time to go back up to bed, Peter.” Pepper told him but Peter’s smile dropped and he shook his head. “You can watch Frozen and sing along all you want with Morgan tomorrow.” 

Pepper stood up to try and get Peter to follow her but Peter didn’t. He looked over at Tony and bit his bottom lip. “No. M’not tired.” 

“I can tell that you’re tired so let’s go up.” Tony said and stood up to walk over to Pepper, hoping to get Peter to start walking up with them but he didn’t move. 

Peter sat up on his knees and turned over so he could rest his chin on the back of the couch and watch the two of them. He didn’t want to go to bed because going to bed meant nightmares and no one to comfort him when he woke up. 

“Let’s go, Peter.” Tony used more of a firm voice but he didn’t want to scare Peter. It was like they were walking on eggshells around him. 

Peter gave a slight shake of the head and for a second, Tony debated letting Peter fall asleep on the couch and carrying him up later but he didn’t want to do that and risk Peter freaking out. 

If it were any of his other kids, he would either force them up or drag them up but he couldn’t do that with Peter. At least not yet. 

Pepper walked over to him and sat down on the couch. “It’s time for bed. It is almost two in the morning so if you don’t go to bed now then tomorrow you will be over tired and it won’t be a good day.” 

Peter turned to look at her. “It’s already going to be a bad day.” 

Pepper ignored that last part. “It’s time for bed so go upstairs.” 

Peter looked over at Tony to see if he was going to help him get out of bedtime but when he didn’t make a move, Peter started to slowly get off the couch. 

He walked up the stairs as slow as he could possibly move but then stopped and sat down on the stairs, hanging from the railing. “I don’t want to go to bed.” 

Tony, who was behind him, wanted to reach out to hold his kid but he didn’t. Instead, he sighed and pulled Peter’s hand from off the railing but that was the worst move to make. “No! I said I’m not sleeping!” 

Peter turned around and laid his head on the stairs so he could pull his knees up and cry into the stairs, feeling like he had no energy to do anything. 

Steve had always known what to do. 

He was always there to hold him and comfort him whenever he needed it. Peter was always receiving hugs and kisses from his dad and now it’s been almost two days with nothing. 

Tony turned around and looked at Pepper who looked like she wanted to join Peter and start crying into the stairs. He didn’t know what to do but Peter was being loud and would most likely be waking up the other kids. 

“I’ll be right back.” Pepper said then walked past Tony and a crying Peter then disappeared down the hallway. 

Tony just stood there, having no idea what to do. 

If it were Morgan, he would have picked her up, thrown her in her bedroom and told her not to act like that but this was Peter. He didn’t know if by not doing what he would normally do would be harming their recovery process or not but he didn’t want to find out. 

Harley appeared in the hallway and ran a hand through his bed head. “What’s wrong?” 

Tony ran a hand through his own hair. “Go back to bed, Harls. Your mom and I are just bringing him to bed.” 

Harley hesitated but he eventually turned around and left when less than a minute later, Pepper was walking back over to them and sat down on the stairs with Peter’s baby blanket in her hands which was now, just Peter’s blanket. 

“I know you’re just over tired, Peter.” Pepper rubbed his back and tried to turn his head. Peter lifted his own head up and saw his comfort item then immediately grabbed it from Pepper. 

The way he snatched it from her, caused both Tony and Pepper to look at each other with an amused look on their face. 

“Alright then,” Tony said and patted Peter’s back. “let’s go up now. Halfway there.” Tony said but Pepper gave him a look that told him to stop. 

Peter lifted his head up, whimpering sadly. He stood up and walked into the bedroom where he slept last night and collapsed onto the bed. Tony grabbed a throw blanket and tossed it over Peter so he was warm since Peter didn’t even bother getting under the comforters. 

“I feel like…” Pepper whispered to him. “we have a newborn baby again.” 

Tony chuckled but there was nothing funny about it. “Yeah. It feels that way. Only we can’t pick him up and cuddle him and I want to so badly.” 

“Soon. He needs to adjust some more. We all do.” 

.  
.  
.

Tony was exhausted. 

He hadn’t slept in two days. Pepper had gone and slept in the guest bedroom a little after they put Peter down but Tony went downstairs and did some work. 

The media wanted to come and interview them since they wanted to create a story on the billion dollar child that returned to his family after seven years. 

Tony didn’t want to put Peter in the spotlight like that. Not now, not ever. 

He had twenty-four hour security around the house just in case Peter’s kidnapper tried to come back into their lives and take Peter again but so far, there was no sign of the man. 

It scared Tony. He had no idea where Rogers was and if the man knew where Peter was. 

It kept him awake at night. Along with a million other things. 

So when Morgan woke up first, followed by Pepper, Tony was ready to pass out but he wanted to stay awake to see Peter. 

“The Uh, the press wants to come over to do an interview.” Tony said to Pepper as she made herself a coffee and Morgan breakfast. 

“Absolutely not. We are not shining any light on Peter. No way.” Pepper poured her coffee and walked over to see what Tony was looking at on his computer. 

Tony rubbed his eyes. “That’s what I said. No one is coming here.” 

“That would put all the attention on us and risk him finding us. Absolutely not.” Pepper placed her coffee mug rather loudly on the table just as Peter was rounding the corner, still dressed in his pyjamas. 

Both parents' faces softened once they saw their child. “Good morning, Peter. You’re up pretty early after staying up so late last night.” 

Peter gave Pepper a dirty look and sat down on the kitchen stool with his back to everyone else. Pepper ignored his look and opened up the fridge. “Are you hungry? I’ll make you some breakfast.” 

“Not hungry.” Peter mumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. He barely slept last night because they made him go to bed which he hated so now he was still tired and he wasn’t happy. 

“... alright.” Pepper grabbed a glass and poured some apple juice in it before placing it in front of Peter who started to immediately push it away from him. “Let go. I’m leaving this here, if you want it, drink it but if you don’t want it then you leave it right here.” 

Peter let go of it after that. Pepper walked away from Peter and looked at Tony. “I have to run down to the tower for a few hours. Are you going to be okay here? I can cancel and do it over the phone.” 

Tony waved her off. He could handle three kids for a few hours. “No. You go. I’ll be fine plus I have Harley. Once he wakes up.” 

Pepper leaned down to press a kiss to his lips before she was walking out of the kitchen, leaving him alone with a moody ten year old and a hyper six year old. He could do this. 

After an hour had passed since Pepper left, Tony realized that he could not do this. 

Morgan was crying in the corner about Tony giving her the red cup instead of the blue cup like she asked for and Peter was in the other corner, sulking. Very loudly in fact. 

It was like they were working off of each other in a weird sibling bond kind of way. 

It was always so hard for Harley and Morgan to bond with each other because Harley had already been ten by the time she was born so it was really hard. He was always her protector and older brother but they never got to really bond like Peter and Harley did for those short first few years of Peter’s life. 

Although now, Peter and Morgan were a lot closer in age so they seemed to be bonding telepathically. 

It was driving Tony insane so when Harley woke up and walked downstairs, Tony was so relieved. “Thank goodness you’re up. Do you want to take Morgan to the park while I stay here with Peter?” 

Harley looked at the corner of the room that Morgan was in and the opposite corner with Peter then back at his dad. “Did you separate them like that?” 

Tony rubbed a hand down his face. “No. They just went like that.” 

Harley nodded his head then walked towards the kitchen. “Sure. I’ll take her.” 

“Okay. Thank you.” Tony now got to spend some one on one time with Peter but his kid still hated him so this was going to be fun. 

Harley grabbed a granola bar and walked over to Morgan. “Stop crying because I’m taking you to the park.” He held his hand out for her to take which she immediately did after she wiped her tears off her face and stood up. 

Peter stopped his whining and sat up. He saw Harley taking Morgan out of the room but leaving him. “Where are they going?” 

Tony sat down on the couch. “They’re going to the park for a bit.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes as he watched them get their shoes on at the front door. He was always left out of things. His whole life he was told that he couldn’t do what his friends were doing. 

He wasn’t allowed to go over to large birthday parties or have group sleepovers. None of that. He always sat at home by himself while everyone else got to have fun. That was his life and he got used to it but not anymore because Steve couldn’t say no to him now. Right? 

Peter stood up and walked over to Tony. “I want to go too.” 

Tony hesitated. The last time he brought Peter to the park, he didn’t see him for seven years. 

“I don’t know.” 

Peter fell to his knees and grabbed onto the couch. “Please, Tony. I-I, my whole life I wasn’t allowed to do so many things and now I can so please.” 

Tony’s heart broke. His poor baby was suffering for seven years, probably kept in the dark on so many days where he was supposed to be a kid and have fun but now, he could get at least some of his childhood back. 

He looked over at Harley who was almost an adult although sometimes he acted like he was a full grown man because of all the hardships he’s been through in his life. 

“Okay. Let’s go to the park then.” Tony said and stood up at the same time that Peter bounced up with a huge smile on his face. 

“Thank you.” He then ran off towards the front door and looked for his shoes. 

Tony followed him and looked at Harley. “We’re all coming.” 

Harley looked up at his dad with a scared expression on his face. “What? Are you serious?” 

“Yep.” Nope. “You got Morgan and I got Peter.” 

Harley didn’t look like he wanted Peter to come but he didn’t say anything else. 

“You have to change out of your pyjamas first, bud.” Tony ran a hand through Peter’s curls without giving it a second thought but Peter didn’t even react to it. 

“Oh yeah.” Peter jumped up and ran upstairs. 

Tony put on his own shoes and pulled his phone out of his pocket to call Pepper. She answered on the second ring. “Hey. So uh, we’re all going to the park.” 

Pepper was silent on the other end for a few seconds. “All of you?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay. Are you sure that’s the best idea? I mean last time we took Peter we… it’s not, I don’t know, Tony. Maybe let them go swimming for today.” Pepper spoke and she sounded scared but Tony was scared too although he knew everything would be okay. 

It also didn’t help that he had no idea what Steve Rogers looked like. 

Natasha wanted to show them on that first day they got Peter back but they both refused. They would see a picture of him in two days when she comes next though. He was not ready to see the face that Peter knew as dad. 

“It’ll be okay. I will not take my eyes off of him and Harley has Morgan. We’ll go to a quiet park. It’ll be okay.” Tony reassured her while also reassuring himself. 

Peter ran down the stairs and climbed over the baby gate. “Why is that even up? There’s no babies in the house.” 

Tony looked at Peter and smiled. The outfit he picked out was cute and did not match in any way. “I have to go. We’re leaving now but I’ll keep you updated. I love you.” 

After Pepper said goodbye, Tony put his phone in his pocket and walked over to his kids. “That’s because it’s for Asier.” 

Peter started laughing. “Oh. That’s funny. Can he come with us?” 

Harley was already grabbing the leash which caused Asier to start running from down the hallway. Peter leaned down to pet his fur and lean his head against him. 

As cute as the action was, Tony had to get three kids ready which was already taking them a lot longer to leave. “Put your shoes on, Peter. Morgan, did you go potty first?” 

Morgan gasped and ran off to the closest bathroom and then Peter was gasping as well. “I gotta go too.” 

Peter ran upstairs even though there was another bathroom on the main floor that he was most likely unaware of. 

Tony glanced at his oldest and started laughing. “Do you need to go potty?” He joked then Harley playfully shoved him. 

It took a total of five minutes for them both to be done and finish getting ready. Peter looked around for his shoes. “Where are my shoes?” 

Tony placed a new pair of shoes in front of Peter that they brought him after throwing out his other shoes because they wanted nothing in their house that Rogers had gotten for him. 

Peter sat down to put his shoes on and then stuck his foot out for Tony. “Can you tie it please?” 

Tony didn’t know why Peter was asking him. He was ten and should know how to tie shoes. He kneeled down to tie up his shoes anyways. “I can do that. Did you learn how to tie shoes before?” 

Peter shook his head and stuck his other foot in front of Tony. “No. My dad never taught me because he always said ‘you take too long so I’ll just do it’.” Peter made his voice go lower to try and imitate the man. 

That made Tony’s blood boil. Peter was ten and was never shown how to tie his own shoes because the one person that was supposed to show him was too fucking lazy. Ass hole. 

“I’ll teach you how. As you can see,” Tony gestured to Peter’s tied shoes. “I’m a shoe tying expert.” 

Peter smiled weakly but didn’t say anything else then there was another foot being placed in front of him. “Daddy. My shoes too.” Morgan had said. 

After all the shoes were tied, all four of them left the house and to say that Tony was nervous was an understatement. 

He walked behind his kids on the sidewalk and kept looking around for any strange looking people. Harley had Asier’s leash so he didn’t have to worry about that but he was paranoid. He learned first hand how evil this world could be and it just didn’t matter. 

They passed by a park that Morgan started running for, followed by Peter but the park was way too big and busy for Tony’s liking. “Hey, no. Morgan and Peter! Come back!” 

Both of his youngest stopped and turned around to look at him. “We aren’t going to this park because there are too many people so we’ll go to the park a few blocks down.” 

Peter was slowly walking back over to the sidewalk and looking up at him with his mouth partly open as if he was waiting to get yelled at more. Tony wondered what that man did to his baby. 

“We just have to walk for a few more minutes.” Tony told Peter who nodded his head and continued walking in front of Harley with Asier and Morgan. 

Tony kept an eye out. He wished he didn’t have to be so paranoid but this was just the world that they lived in. 

They got to a main road that they had to cross and Tony was getting nervous again because he didn’t know how Peter was. When Harley was his age, him and Morgan used to just run out at any time so he didn’t know if Peter would do the same. 

“Harley, can you grab Morgan’s hand?” Tony said and watched as the light turned red but Peter and Morgan were still walking. 

Harley grabbed both of their arms and pulled them back. “Hold hands when crossing the road.” He said so Morgan grabbed onto Harley’s, as always. 

Peter hesitated before reaching over to hold onto Tony’s hand and Tony wanted to cry happy tears at the action. It was so simple yet it meant so much to him. Peter initiated the contact between the two of them and he wasn’t even mumbling and complaining about it. 

After they crossed the road, Morgan let go of Harley’s hand and started running across the field towards the park while Peter did the same thing. Tony missed the contact but he was happy to watch Peter run in the field like the child he was. 

Harley let go of Asier’s leash which he always did when they got to a park. 

Tony walked across the field, not taking his eyes off of Peter the whole time. He looked at everything around the park but it was surrounded by fields and a forest after that. 

There was another boy at the park who looked about four and his mother. Tony would still keep an eye on her around Peter because he didn’t trust anyone. Not anymore. 

He walked over to Peter who was about to start swinging from the monkey bars while Harley was climbing up to the slide with Morgan. 

“Can you swing across the whole thing?” Tony asked Peter who was preparing to reach out and jump onto the bars. 

“Yeah.” Peter stuck his tongue out in concentration and jumped up to reach the bars. He let out a scream and started to kick his legs out once he got on but he didn’t make any move to keep swinging. 

“Swing on them, Pete. That’s the only way to get across.” Tony told him but Peter still wasn’t making any move to swing. 

“No! I’m scared!” Peter lost grip on one hand and went to reach for it again but he couldn’t so Tony walked under him without even thinking about it and caught him in his arms, holding him up on his side. 

Peter looked down at his hands that were all red and burning now. “Ow.” 

Tony didn’t want to let go of Peter. He was holding his kid. He had Peter in his arms and he didn’t want to let go of him. It was his first time picking Peter up since the day he last put him down, seven years ago. 

Peter looked back up at the monkey bars as if they had personality offended him then he started wiggling to be put down. 

“Do you want to try again?” Tony asked him but Peter shook his head. Tony put him back up on the ledge anyways. “Just try. You have to keep swinging your arms when you get on so you don’t lose your momentum.” 

Peter rubbed his hands together. “But my hands hurt.” 

“Yeah. That’s part of it. You just gotta suffer through it to get to the end.” Tony told him and went to go stand to the side just in case Peter needed him again. 

Part of Tony wanted to pick Peter up again and part of him wanted Peter to get across the bars. 

Peter looked unsure of it but he looked at Tony then jumped and immediately tried to reach for the bars but he couldn’t grab it. “I can’t… reach it!” 

Tony moved to stand under him and lifted him up by his legs to give him a little boast. “Yes you can. Reach again.” 

This time, Peter grabbed the next bar and immediately swung onto the next bar and just when Tony thought that Peter was going to reach the end, he missed the bar and slipped off but Tony caught him again and walked back over to the beginning. 

“One more time. You got it this time.” Tony clapped his hands to encourage Peter to get across but he was shocked when Peter leaped out to the middle bars instead of grabbing onto the one closest to him. 

He immediately slipped off so Tony rushed under him and caught him, holding his kid on his side. Peter screamed through his teeth in frustration and then Tony looked behind him to see Harley and Morgan cheering for Peter. 

“You can do it, Peter!” Morgan cheered while Harley clapped his hands and watched with a proud smile on his face. 

Peter smiled shyly and Harley took out his phone to snatch a few pictures. 

Tony placed Peter back on the edge and Peter went for it again but he fell once again. Peter threw his head back and started whimpering in frustration while tears filled his eyes. 

“Hey, why are you crying?” Tony asked him, still holding Peter in his arms because he didn’t want to let him go just yet. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “Because I can’t do it. It’s too hard.” 

“But you almost did it. Try again.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I want to stop.” 

Tony didn’t want Peter to give up after he already came so far. “No. You’re a Stark and Starks don’t give up that easy.” 

“Not a Stark.” Peter mumbled under his breath. 

Tony didn’t take that to heart. He placed Peter back on the edge. “We’ll see about that. Try again.” 

Peter grabbed onto the metal pole and shook his head in defeat. “S’too hard. My hands hurt.” 

“Oh well. So you’re gonna make your hands hurt for nothing?” Tony asked him and Peter nodded his head with a tear slipping out. “Crying isn’t going to get you across those bars. Try again.” 

Peter gave Tony a dirty look before he prepared himself to jump. He swung another arm out and then another until it was the last bar. Tony knew he had it. Peter looked over his shoulder for him to catch him again but Tony didn’t move. Peter then swung his last arm out and pulled himself up to the other landing pad.

“Look! I did it!” 

Morgan and Harley started cheering for Peter while Tony clapped his hands and watched his kid with the proudest smile on his face. 

He guessed that Peter was really a Stark. He just needed a little push. 

Peter jumped onto the ground with a cheer and gave both Harley and Morgan high fives. 

Tony watched all three of his kids laugh with each other and knew that they were always supposed to end up like this. It was always supposed to be this way. 

He wasn’t included when all three of them ran off and climbed up on some other play structure but he watched on anyways. As much as he loved all of his kids, he could not take his eyes off of Peter. 

The way he laughed and would stick his tongue out in concentration when he climbed up something rather difficult. Tony loved how well all of his kids were bonding. 

If anyone were to see them, they would have no idea that Peter had been raised by someone else for the last seven years. He just hoped that the happy moods lasted. 

Peter went down the slide so Tony stood at the bottom of it and pulled his phone out to snap a few pictures of him smiling widely while he was laughing at something that Harley was doing. 

As Peter ran off, Tony stood back up and looked at the picture on his phone. 

It was the first picture of Peter that was taken since he got back to them. Well, after the pictures that Harley had taken of the two of them at the monkey bars. 

Tony smiled down at his beaming child and sent it off to Pepper quickly so she could see that they were having fun. He then looked up and his eyes landed on Peter at the top of the slide again. 

He spent so many years looking at pictures of Peter and crying and now he could look at a picture of Peter then look up and look at him in real life. 

Tony walked over to the park bench so he could let his kids bond and play together while he still watched them, with most of his attention on Peter and any newcomer walking into the park. 

After about twenty of him watching all three of them, Peter was running over to him and sitting on the bench on his knees. “I need to go pee.” 

Tony wasn’t expecting that. He looked around and didn’t see any public restrooms. “Okay um…” 

Peter waited for him to decide what to do 

“Are you okay with peeing in the forest?” Tony asked him, already trying to decide what to do if Peter says no. 

“Uh huh. Yeah.” Peter said, standing up with Tony and following him. 

“Harls, I’m taking Peter to the forest to go pee. Stay with Morg.” Tony told Harley who nodded his head and continued to push Morgan in the swing. 

“We’ll go over to the forest and be really quick.” Tony told him as they walked across the field which was quite a distance away from the park. 

“Okay.” Peter said and continued to run to keep up with Tony who was walking really fast. “You’re walking too fast.” 

Tony slowed down a bit. He forgot about little legs. “Oh. Sorry, bud.” 

When they got to the edge of the forest, Peter hesitated. “I don’t want to go all the way in.” 

Tony didn’t want him to do that either. “That’s fine. No one can see you anyways so just go here.” 

Peter went to pull down his pants but they got stuck so he struggled with it for a few seconds, starting to panic a bit because he was getting desperate. “Help. My pants are stuck.” 

Tony looked down at Peter’s pants that were tied up in a huge knot. “Did you tie it like this this morning?” 

“Yeah.” Peter said as Tony tugged on his pants but the knot was way too tight. He didn’t even know how Peter managed to tie it like this. 

“This is really tight, Pete.” Tony struggled again. Pepper was always best at undoing knots. “How… how did you even manage to do this?” 

“I don’t know but hurry.” Peter weakly begged him and Tony knew that he wasn’t going to get the pants off any time soon so he grabbed his keys from his pocket and started to cut the string off. “What are you doing? You’re gonna ruin it.” 

“Would you rather pee your pants?” Tony asked him then cut the string and pulled it out. “It’s okay. Pepper will fix it and if not, we’ll just get you new pants.” 

Peter tugged his pants down and Tony looked around to see if anyone could see them. “Pete, you don’t need to pull everything down all the way, just…” 

Peter finished relieving himself and looked over at Tony. “It’s easier this way anyways.” 

Tony didn’t argue with him. He just hoped Peter wasn’t doing that in public places that wasn’t a field. 

Peter pulled up his underwear and pants and stumbled towards the park again. Peter went to run ahead so Tony watched him run but then his pants fell down and caused him to trip and land face first into the grass. 

Tony immediately wanted to run over there to make sure that Peter was okay but he knew that he had to let Peter get up on his own since Tony could see that he was in fact okay. 

And now that he saw that Peter was okay, he started laughing because the whole thing was funny. 

He got to Peter’s side and kneeled down to wipe the dirt and grass off his face without even thinking about it. “Are you okay?” 

Peter pushed himself up and sat on his butt. “Yeah. My pants just fell and tripped me.” 

Tony reached down to help the pant situation while he was laughing. “Yeah. I can see that.” 

“Hey, stop laughing at me.” Peter pouted so Tony continued to laugh but looked up at Peter’s face and saw the tiniest of smiles. 

“I’m not the only one. Your brother and sister are finding it pretty funny as well.” Tony said, not even thinking about it first and neither did Peter because he was looking over his shoulder to see both of them laughing at him. “Hey, stop moving so I can get this on properly.” 

Peter straightened his legs out and let Tony fix his pants to adjust the size then Tony was standing up and pulling Peter to his feet to finish adjusting them so that didn’t happen again. 

Peter let Tony adjust his pants and then looked over and saw Pepper walking towards them. “Pepper!” 

Tony looked up from where he was bent over Peter and saw his wife walking towards them with a huge smile on her face. He loved her so much. 

“Mommy! Mommy!” Morgan ran over to Pepper and hugged her around her waist. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too, little miss. What are you guys up to?” Pepper asked and walked over to Tony and Peter who was standing in his underwear. “What’s going on over here?” 

“My pants tripped me. And um, Tony’s helping me.” Peter said and smiled shyly at Pepper. 

“Do I even want to know how that happened?” She asked, amused by the situation either way because Peter was actually willingly letting Tony help him. 

Peter pointed towards the forest behind them. “I went pee and Tony ripped my string off my pants.” 

Tony finished what he was doing and pulled Peter’s pants up for him. “He tied those way too tight so it was either that or… wet pants.” 

Peter shrugged and walked towards the park again where Morgan was already back to playing. Tony watched him and went to press a quick kiss to Pepper's lips. “We had fun. I’ll tell you about it later.” 

Pepper followed him into the park. “What did you end up getting Peter to eat for breakfast?” 

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Fuck. Um, he didn’t eat anything.” 

“Tony. It’s one in the afternoon. Did you pack lunches for them?” Pepper asked but when Tony didn’t answer, she sighed. “It’s fine.” 

“Hey, to be fair, this was a last minute decision.” Tony tried to defend himself but he knew it was worthless. 

“Yeah yeah.” Pepper said with a smirk then walked over to the play structure to get Peter’s attention. “Hey little monkey, you didn’t eat anything today. Are you hungry?” 

Peter put his legs through the bars. “Um, yeah.” 

“Mommy! I’m hungry too. Daddy never feeds us.” Morgan yelled from across the structure and Tony gasped. 

“Alright. I’m gonna go run across the street to grab some pizza, I’ll be right back.” Pepper pinched Peter’s still chubby leg, causing Peter to giggle and pull his legs back through the bars. 

Pepper walked over to Tony. “I’ll be like ten minutes then we can have a picnic in the grass or something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank each and everyone of you for commenting on the last chapter. It really really means a lot to me knowing that I have all of you who genuinely care, even though we’ve never met before and know barely anything about each other. I’m still extremely grateful for all of you so thank you:) 
> 
> As always, if any of you want to talk or are feeling really lonely and need someone to talk to, I’m always here and I’m a really good listener and won’t just say nothing:) 
> 
> Good news! I got a job! I’m so excited! I’m a bit sad to start because I’m gonna miss writing everyday all day but it’s really important for me to do something else right now and to be productive as well as make money haha


	7. I’ll always be here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter! Enjoy:)

“Morgan, do not go on that.” Tony told Morgan as she went to climb up on the giant monkey bars. 

Morgan looked at him but still made a move to climb on them. “Morgan. I said no.” 

“But Peter did.” Morgan whined and stopped. 

“No. He didn’t. He went on the other ones. You’re more than welcome to climb on those ones instead.” Tony pointed to the other side of the playground where the other monkey bars were. 

He looked over at where Peter was trying to climb on the other side of the bars and it was quite high up. “Harley.” Tony called out but looked over at Harley who was texting someone on his phone. 

He walked over to Peter and stood underneath him. “You’re not climbing on that side. Crawl over.” 

Peter looked down at him and shook his head. “No. I want to climb on the other side of the slide this way.” 

“No. Come down. Both of you are done at the park now because you’re not listening.” Tony looked over at Morgan who was now trying to climb on the monkey bars after he told her not to. “Morgan!” 

Peter squatted down while the only thing that was holding him up was the tiny landing pad and his hands that were slowly sliding down. He let out a small scream and looked down at Tony. 

“Just let go. Come here.” Tony held his arms up for Peter to get ready to catch him but Peter was making it more difficult. “Let go. I’ll catch you.” 

Peter struggled to get himself half turned around so he just let go, causing Tony to have to catch him awkwardly in his arms with one hand holding his leg and the other around his chest. 

Pepper walked over to them just then. “Pizza.” 

Tony placed Peter on his feet and gave Pepper ‘the look’ that they would always share with one another when the kids became too much. 

“Morgan! Pizza!” Tony called out then saw Morgan making a run for it towards the pizza box. Him and Pepper laughed at her love for food then followed Morgan onto the grass. 

Harley and Peter followed them and sat down. “We should have been more prepared with a blanket or something.” 

Morgan agreed with Pepper. “Yeah because now my bum will be itchy.” 

“How? You have pants on.” Harley pointed out and looked at his younger sister. Morgan just shrugged. 

Everyone grabbed a slice of pizza, including Peter who hesitated a bit at first. 

“So,” Pepper took a bite of her pizza. “tell me what you guys got up to while I was stuck at work.” 

“Peter climbed through monkey bars!” Morgan blurred out but Peter’s smile dropped, along with his pizza. 

“I wanted to say that.” Peter looked at Tony with a pout on his face. 

“You can tell me, Peter. I don’t know anything.” Pepper said to Peter then looked at Morgan. “Let Peter tell me. You can tell me what you did after.” 

Tony looked at Peter. He knew it was hard for Peter to come from having no siblings to two siblings but he also thought that he could have possibly been babied by Rogers. It was the only explanation for Peter acting that way but it wasn’t like he was too worried about it. Peter was back and that was all that mattered. 

Peter picked up his pizza again and looked at it. “Well… I wanted to climb across the monkey bars but I couldn’t and I was too scared so Tony helped me get across. And I fell sometimes but then I eventually did it.” 

“Woah. That’s so amazing, Peter. I’m so proud of you.” Pepper clapped her hands and then Harley was pulling out his phone to show his mom the pictures. “Aw. These are so cute.” 

Peter moved closer. “I want to see.” He grabbed the phone from Pepper’s hands and looked at the pictures but then Morgan was trying to grab the phone from him. “No. I’m still looking.” 

“It’s my turn.” Morgan whined out and tried to grab the phone from Peter but he moved away. 

“Morgan, wait until Peter is done and then you can have a turn.” Tony told his daughter who crossed her arms in a pout but he ignored her and watched as Peter held the phone in his hand and watched Morgan for a few seconds before handing the phone to her and sitting up on his knees by Pepper’s side. 

Morgan took the phone from Peter with a smile and began looking over at the pictures just as Asier ran over to them and sat down by Peter. 

“Asier. You’re all wet. Ew.” Peter pet the dog and then wiped his hands on his pants and moved away. 

“He probably found a ravine to swim in.” Harley said and patted the spot next to him so Asier could move away from Peter who was clearly uncomfortable. 

Pepper handed Harley a water bottle to feed the dog as Tony watched Peter watch the dog. 

Peter yawned and looked over at Tony as he took another bite of his pizza then looked away. 

“Are you tired, Pete? You didn’t sleep long last night.” Tony asked him and resisted the urge to pull Peter against him and cuddle him close, especially with him being extra tired. 

Peter nodded his head slightly but didn’t say anything else as he continued to eat his pizza and drink his apple juice. 

The family chatted some more together but Morgan and Peter were both silent as they ate their pizzas. 

Tony wanted to take a walk and possibly go walk into the ravine up to their knees but it didn’t look like his two youngests were up for that adventure today and he didn’t want to overwhelm Peter with too much in one day. 

“Let’s throw this garbage out and head back home.” Pepper stood up and brushed herself off while Harley grabbed all the garbage and Asier’s leash. 

Tony held his hands out for Peter to take. “Come on, little man.” 

Peter continued to sit on the ground. He shook his head and wobbled forward with over exhaustion. 

“Yes. You can take a little nap at home. Stand up.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arms and pulled him to his feet, giving Peter a bit of a shake so that he woke up a bit more. 

The whole way home was a very slow walk. Morgan stopped being tired once they got to the lights and Tony refusing to carry her. Peter on the other hand did not wake himself up. He stumbled the whole way home with continuous yawning and Tony felt bad for him because he was exhausted emotionally to begin with plus the fact that he got less than five hours of sleep last night and a busy day at the park. 

Once they got home, Morgan grabbed her toys and Tony led Peter upstairs to try and nap but Peter refused. “Just for an hour. You need to sleep because you won’t last until bedtime.” 

Peter sat himself down on the stairs and started to whimper so Pepper finished washing her hands and walked over to the two of them. “Come with me, Peter. Let’s put some tv on for you for a bit.” 

Tony watched Pepper lead Peter into the living room and talk to him for a few seconds before she was putting on some show that he didn’t recognize. 

Tony walked over to Pepper who was now in the kitchen and looked at Peter whose eyes were glued onto the tv screen as if he were being hypnotized and he often saw the same look in Morgan’s eyes when she watched her shows. 

“He doesn’t like to be alone, Tony, and I’m pretty sure he has nightmares.” Pepper told him as she started drying some dishes and putting them away. 

“What? How do you know?” Tony asked, having no idea how Pepper knew. 

“A mother's intuition is always right.” Pepper told him. “Even if I haven’t used my intuition with him for seven years.” 

“So… he’s scared of being alone then?” 

“I know he is. I carried him inside me for nine months. A mother has a special bond with their children and I just know.” 

“I have a special bond with him too, you know.” Tony added because it was true. “Peter is a daddy’s boy. Was. He… Morgan and Harley always go to you first but Peter went, goes to me first so we have a special bond too.” 

Pepper paused what she was doing to look at Tony sadly. “Then go sit with your baby and get your daddy’s boy back. I’ll be here.” 

Tony already had a plan to join Peter on the couch because he always wanted to stay close to him. He sat down next to Peter but not too close and watched the show for a few minutes but he had no idea what he was watching. 

“Is this your favourite show?” Tony asked him, looking over at Peter who was trying so hard to stay awake. 

“Yeah. It’s Craig of the creek.” Peter answered and continued to watch it so Tony joined him. 

Tony expected Peter to fall asleep after the first episode but after the second one started and Peter was still awake, Tony pulled his computer out and decided to order Peter’s bedroom stuff now because he didn’t know when he was going to get another chance. 

“We should get your bedroom stuff now, Pete.” Tony said and put the computer onto a pillow between them. 

Peter rubbed at his eye and looked over at the screen and stared at it blankly. 

“How about you pick out a bed first and then you can pick out the rest of your furniture so it matches.” Tony explained to him and went to the bed selection. 

Peter started to scroll through some beds options for a few minutes before deciding on one. It had dark wood and bars by the headboard and footboard. “This one.” 

Tony smiled because Peter picked something without so much as a complaint. “I like it. Good choice and now you can pick your nightstand tables and dresser.” 

Peter did the same thing with picking both items but they didn’t really match the bed but it was what Peter wanted so Tony agreed and added it to the cart. 

In total, it took less than thirty minutes for Peter to choose all of his bedroom furniture which was what fully put Peter to sleep. 

He fell asleep on his side with his arm stretched out and placed on Tony’s lap so Tony kept it there because as much physical contact he could get with Peter was good since he knew it helped them regain that connection that they once had. 

While Peter was sleeping, Tony finished ordering other stuff such as a mattress, lamp, carpet, curtains and little knickknacks for around the room. 

Everything was coming later on today but Tony didn’t know if he would have the energy to set everything up so he might just have a couple of people do it for him so Peter could sleep in his own room tonight. 

Morgan dumped out a bucket of her toys right by his feet and was making too much noise. “Morgan. Take that somewhere else. Your brother is sleeping.” 

Morgan groaned then looked at Peter. “He looks sad.” 

Tony glanced down at Peter’s face which did look sad. His face was scrunched up and looked like he was in pain so without thinking about it, he ran a hand through Peter’s hair a few times and then Peter was letting out a content sigh and his face was relaxing. 

“You made him happy, daddy.” Morgan cheered happily which made Tony say to Morgan that she was being too loud. 

“I know but you have to be quiet or go play somewhere else.” Tony told her. 

“I want to play with Peter.” Morgan whined out but Tony shook his head. 

“Not right now. He’s sleeping so try again in an hour.” 

Morgan whined again just as Pepper walked over and sat down. “Morgan, go clean your bedroom please.” 

With that, Morgan left, leaving Tony and Pepper alone with their sleeping baby. 

“I got him to order his bedroom stuff. Wanna see? He passed out right after so I’m glad we got it done.” Tony handed Pepper his computer for her to look at it. 

“Oh. These are nice. His nightstand doesn’t match but it’s cute. I like it. Is someone coming to set this up or…?” 

Tony took his computer from her and shut it. “Yeah. Some people are coming around six so I want everyone out in the back by then because I don’t want them to see Peter.” 

“Alright. Good, I didn’t think we could build it with three kids running around.” Pepper laughed weakly and laid her head on Tony’s shoulder, looking over at Peter who was sound asleep. “What are we gonna do about school?” 

Tony didn’t even want to think about that right now. 

They pulled Morgan and Harley out for a few days but planned to send them back on the following Monday and it was already Thursday. 

Peter was a whole other story. 

Would he be going to the same elementary school as Morgan meaning that two of his kids could be at the same school and one by themselves. It was too much to think about. 

Pepper could sense his stress so she lifted her head up to press a kiss to Tony's cheek. “We’ll figure it all out in time. When Natasha comes, she said that she had some stuff for us to see so I’ll give her a call and see if she can somehow get his school transcripts for us to see then we will go from there.” 

Tony always knew that she could help calm him down. “I’d rather he go to the same elementary school as Morgan. That way, we know they are both there and it might make him feel better that he has a sibling in the same school.” 

“Yeah, I think that would help a lot-” 

Pepper was cut off by a loud thud and both of them sat up and looked down at Peter who had rolled onto the floor. Peter immediately woke up, confused and reached up to grab onto his head. 

“Oh, you’re okay. Come here.” Tony grabbed Peter’s hands to help him stand up and then pulled him back up on the couch where Peter immediately laid back down and went to bed. 

Pepper looked over at Tony and smiled with a tiny laugh. “That was so cute. Check his head though.” 

“He’s fine.” Tony said even as he moved Peter’s hair back a bit so he could feel for a bump but he was fine. “He’s okay.” He sat back with his hand still resting in Peter’s hair and looked over at Pepper. “We’re those parents now.” 

“What parents?” 

Tony gestured with his free hand. “You know… the parents who worry over their kids all the time. Put sunscreen on, Morgan. Hey, no running or you’ll hurt yourself.” Tony imitated the parents that they used to make fun of but now they were those parents. 

“What? No. We still say those things to our kids but it’s just different now with Peter. I can’t lose him again.” Pepper whispered that last part because it was hard for her to say. 

“I know. And we won’t.” 

The two of them were silent for a few minutes with Tony’s hand still resting in Peter’s hair. “I think Rogers babied him.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

Tony tried to think about how to start. “Well… I know this is a huge adjustment on Peter but I just get that feeling. It makes sense. That man couldn’t have Peter start to venter out on his own right? Because Peter’s getting older so Rogers wanted Peter to depend on him for as long as possible. He doesn’t know how to tie his shoes, Pep. That should tell you something.” 

Pepper thought it over. It did make a lot of sense but she didn’t know. “Possibly. At least we can teach him those things now. He saved that for us in a way.” 

.  
.  
.

“Morgan, put your floaty on or you’re coming inside to watch through the windows.” Tony warned Morgan who was getting ready to jump in without anything. 

Peter walked out of the house dressed in his new bathing suit that actually fit him this time. They were short green ones with palm trees all over it. “Are those ones comfy, Pete?”

Peter had an uncomfortable look on his face as he tried to pull them up a bit. “Still too long.” 

“Too long. Those are shorter than shorts.” Tony didn’t know how Peter could get any shorter unless he put on a speedo. 

“Yeah. I just don’t like the feeling. Morgan gets to wear comfortable ones.” Peter stopped trying to pull his bathing suit and stuck out his lips in a pout. 

Tony looked over at Morgan’s bathing suit and shrugged. “Well… maybe I can find some bathing suit briefs. That’ll hopefully be better.” 

“Yeah.” Peter said then stood next to Tony as he looked around for Harley but he couldn’t see him yet so he sat down on the armrest of Tony’s chair. 

Tony showed him a picture of some online that Peter might like. “How bout these?” 

Peter stopped chewing on his nails and looked at the picture. He didn’t understand how Tony pulled that up so quickly. “Yeah. Those are nice. Sometimes my dad just let’s me swim without any.” 

Tony hated hearing Peter refer to his kidnapper as dad. He wanted to know when he should be correcting that but he would have to ask Natasha when she comes next. “Oh yeah. So you just swam in your underwear or something?” 

“That too.” Peter said and stood up then walked to the edge of the pool, leaving Tony. 

He didn’t know why that made him so angry. He felt this urge to protect his kids from that kind of stuff and yet there was Rogers, stealing everything from him. A parent is supposed to let their kids do that and now Rogers had those fun memories of his innocent kid. It wasn’t fair and it left him feeling jealous. 

Tony stood up and walked towards the edge of the pool where Peter was squatting down and touching the water. “When did you used to go swimming, Pete?” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. All the time. Me and my dad went like a few days ago when I got a sunburn on my butt.” 

Tony felt the anger rise in him. 

Part of him wanted to know every detail but another part of him didn’t want to know. 

It hurt him so much to know that Peter and the man that he thinks of as his dad, were close. He hated that so much. 

Peter looked up at him when Tony had no response but Tony had to walk away. He wanted to punch something. Preferably someone and that someone being Rogers. 

Peter watched Tony walk away from him, not knowing what he said or did wrong. 

Harley walked out just as Tony said something to him and went inside so Peter looked away after that. 

“Jump in and I’ll catch you.” Harley told Peter and then jumped in himself. Peter looked over at Morgan who had a life jacket on and he wanted one too. 

“Let me get my life jacket first.” Peter stood up to run and grab one from the pool shed. He searched for the red one at the back and put it on then ran back to the pool so he could jump in. “Now I’m ready.” 

Harley was swimming away from him and into the deep end. “I’m not teaching you how to swim in a life jacket. Take it off and I’ll teach you how.” 

Peter hesitated before jumping in himself and popping right back up on the surface. “I can’t take it off.” 

“Dinner is ready in ten minutes guys.” Pepper called out as she brought out some dishes to place on the outside table. 

“What about daddy?” Morgan asked. 

“The delivery men are here so he’s with them but he’ll be down soon.” Pepper told her and disappeared back inside. 

Peter lifted himself out of the pool just as Harley swam over and pulled him back in by the life jacket strap at the back. “I know you can do it. I want to teach you one thing, c’mon.” 

Peter grinned. He shook his head at Harley and reached for the edge of the pool again and this time, Harley didn’t pull him back in when he climbed out. 

“I dare you to jump into Morgan’s old float toy.” Harley dared him and pushed the yellow and green floaty more towards Peter. 

Peter stood on the edge of the pool deck, preparing himself to jump in. “What happens if I don’t?” 

“If you don’t… you have to take your life jacket off and let me teach you how to swim.” Harley told him with a smirk and when Peter shook his head, Harley pushed the floaty closer to Peter. “Then jump.” 

Peter hesitated. He took a step back so he would make the distance and then he jumped and plugged his nose on instinct. When he opened his eyes next, he saw that he had landed into the floaty with his legs going right through the leg holes. 

“I did it!” 

“Woah! Nice job, Pete. I didn’t think you actually would.” Harley swam over to give him a high five and then he was looking inside to see where Peter’s legs went. “How are you fitting? Isn’t that cutting off your blood circulation?” 

Now that Peter thought about it, it was. A lot. “Yeah.” He went to try and get out but he was stuck so he looked at Harley for help. “Can you help me? I’m stuck.” 

Harley tried to pull him up but he couldn’t get a good grip since they were in the deep end. “Let’s swim to the shallow end first.” Harley said and went to swim but Peter started kicking his legs and freaking out because he was going to fall over and drown or he was going to have to get his legs amputated since there was no blood circulation. 

“No. No! I can’t s-swim.” Peter tried to suck in a breath of air but now the life jacket was stopping him from getting any air into his lungs so he started kicking his legs more. 

“Peter. Stop, I’ll help you but… you have to stop first. Calm down.” Harley tried to pull Peter towards the shallow end but because Peter was kicking too much, he tipped face first into the water so Harley lifted him back up only for Peter to start crying harder. “Morgan. Go get mom and dad! Hurry!” 

Morgan was watching the whole thing with a panicked look on her face from the steps of the water so she got up and quickly ran inside to get help, not caring about the fact that she wasn’t allowed in the house when she was soaking wet. 

“Help! Mommy! Daddy! Peter’s stuck!” Morgan cried and went to run upstairs to grab her dad but Pepper was immediately running down the hallway and over to Morgan. 

“What’s wrong?!” Pepper screamed and ran outside where she knew Peter was. Her heart was racing a mile of minute, thinking of all the worst case scenarios as she ran outside. 

She heard the crying first which was a good thing because it meant that Peter was alive. She then saw Peter sitting in one of Morgan’s old swim floaters which she didn’t even know why they still had. 

Her heart was starting to slow down now as she took in the situation. She kneeled down by the pool just as Tony came running out of the house in a panic. 

He ran over to the edge of the pool and kneeled down as well. “What happened?” 

“I just… I dared him to jump in but now he’s stuck and-and he’s freaking out.” Harley rushed out in a panic of his own so Tony reached into the pool and grabbed Peter by the life jacket straps to lift him out. 

“It’s okay, Peter. You need to breathe.” Tony tried to reassure Peter while also trying not to have a panic attack at hearing Morgan screaming for someone to help Peter. He had never ran so fast in his life. 

Tony went to make Peter stand up but he wouldn’t so he continued to hold him up by the life jacket straps. 

Pepper stood in front of Peter and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re out of the water and we’ll take you out of this now.” 

Peter tried to calm down by taking in a breath of air but choking on it. “It hurts! My-my legs are gonna get cut o-o-off.” 

“Your legs will be fine but you need to calm down so we can get this off of you first.” Pepper reassured Peter and waited for him to start breathing a bit better so Tony carried him over to the grass and sat him down since Peter didn’t have much control over his movements right now. 

“We need to take this life jacket off first.” Tony started to unbuckle the straps and helped Peter get his arms out of it but when he went to take it off, it was stuck then Tony noticed the strap between his legs which was impossible to get off now. 

“Pep, try and pull this thing down so I can get the last strap off.” Tony instructed her so the both of them worked together with Peter leaning up against Tony’s chest and watched as they got the life jacket off so now he felt like he could breathe.

“Okay.” Tony sighed. “Next one.” He tried to decide on how to do this as he checked how tight it was on Peter’s legs. “Should we just butter up your legs?” Tony asked Peter who shook his head. 

“How about some cooking oil?” Tony asked him which got a small giggle out of his kid so he counted that as a win. He cooed and wiped the tears or water droplets off of Peter’s face. “Aw, it’s okay. Don’t cry, bud. Look, it’s almost off.” 

Peter nodded his head. “It hurts my legs.” 

“I know. Um, Pep, I’m just gonna pick him up and you pull it off, okay?” Tony looked at her and saw that she was stressed but it was about everything leading up to this. 

“Yeah. You got him?” 

Tony picked Peter up and waited for Pepper to grab a hold of the floaty and start trying to pull it off. It was an uncomfortable plan but it seemed to be working. 

Peter tried to reach down for his bathing suit that was slowly starting to come off along with the floaty. 

“Wait. I need to get a better grip now.” Pepper said so Tony put Peter down for a few seconds. “Okay.” 

Tony picked Peter back up, wishing there wasn’t a floaty between them so he could actually hold his kid properly but the only reason Peter was letting him pick him up was because of the floaty he was stuck in. 

Tony placed Peter back on the grass once he saw his bathing suit coming off with the floaty. “Ooh.” He tried to tug them back up but they were stuck in the leg holes still so Tony would help him with that later. “It’s okay. Almost unstuck.” 

“My fingers are hurting.” Pepper laughed out as she shook her hands. 

“My legs have no feeling.” Peter said sadly, still worried about his legs. 

“You’ll start to feel them once this is off.” Tony reassured him again and then lifted Peter up once more so Pepper could pull it off. 

Once it got past Peter’s knees, Peter started to kick it off until it was fully off of him. “Yay!” Tony cheered and placed Peter back onto the grass, wanting to pick him up again because he missed picking him up so much. 

Peter rubbed at his inner thighs. “Ow. It’s all red.” 

“You’re okay. It’ll go away soon.” Tony said to him as he stood over him and reached down to fix his bathing suit and tug it back up. 

“I want to put on something dry now because my legs hurt.” Peter went to rub between his legs again because it was burning from the rubbing of skin. 

“Let’s go upstairs. I’ll find some cream for you.” Pepper told him and started walking so Peter followed behind her. 

Tony watched the two of them walk into the house and looked around to see that his other two kids weren’t anywhere around. He went to go find them inside the house but then he saw the two of them walking out. 

“Is Peter okay, daddy?” Morgan asked and ran up to him, looking up at her dad with watery eyes. 

“He’s okay now so mommy took him up to change. How about we finish setting the table and wait for them?” Morgan cheered in response and ran back into the house. Tony then caught Harley’s eye and walked over to him. “Don’t feel bad. It wasn’t your fault and he’s okay now.” 

“I dared him to jump, dad. He didn’t even want to.” Harley tried to turn away from his dad but Tony forced Harley’s eyes back on him. 

“All that matters is that he’s okay now and you did the right thing by staying with him. I don’t want this to change the way you act around him. Both of you will eventually get into some kind of mischievous trouble so I don’t want this stopping you but just be more careful. I’m more worried about Morgan and Peter. Those two are going to be double the trouble.” Tony shook his head at his two youngests who he was sure would be giving him a lot of grey hairs with the trouble they will get up to. 

Morgan ran out of the house at that moment, carrying a glass of juice. “I’ll help you, Morg.” 

As Tony watched Harley help Morgan, he debated if he should go upstairs and check on Peter and Pepper or if he should let them have their privacy. 

As much as he wanted to see Peter, he knew it was important for the two to bond together so he helped set the table with Harley and Morgan and sat down while they waited for Peter and Pepper to appear some time later. 

Peter sat in the seat he was sitting at before and Pepper had a permanent smile on her face that made Tony smile along with her. 

He thought at that moment that they would be okay. 

.  
.  
.

It was already almost eleven at night but Peter was still awake and refused to go upstairs which was really testing both parents' patience. 

Tony had to take himself out of the situation for a few minutes because Peter was taking his last bit of patience that he had left in him. 

He knew that Peter was feeling so many emotions at once so he was confused and didn’t know what to feel which was why he was stuck between wanting to cry and wanting to start screaming in frustration, so Tony let Pepper handle it because she had slept some since Peter got back. 

Pepper was sitting down next to Peter in the hallway as he pulled apart a basket that was on a table stand. Pepper took the basket from him. “Please stop that. It’s eleven o’clock. I know you’re tired but so are da- Tony and I. We want to go to sleep but first we have to put you in bed.” 

Peter turned his back to her and curled up against the wall. “Then go to sleep. I’m not stopping you.” 

“Yes you are, Peter.” Pepper watched him for a few seconds before sighing. “Alright. You are either going to walk up willingly or Tony will pick you up and put you in your room. What will it be?” 

Peter kicked his legs out in front of him and looked up at Tony who was watching him from across the hall. He groaned but stood up anyways. Both parents counted that as a win. 

They started following Peter up and didn’t say anything about the fact that he was walking up the stairs incredibly slowly. 

By the time they got to the top, Peter ran his fingers along the side of the wall while he walked towards the master bedroom. Tony smirked because he definitely got that Stark stubbornness. Even Pepper had a bit of it now from being around all the Starks for so long. 

“You have your bedroom set up now, Peter.” Pepper said as he went to walk into their room. 

Tony and Pepper had purposely picked the bedroom closest to them for Peter to eventually sleep in when they bought the house. They wanted to have the thought of Peter close to them while he was gone and now that he was back, it was working out perfectly. His bedroom was right next to theirs with just a closet separating the two in between. 

Peter shook his head and still made a move to go into their bedroom. “I’m leaving soon so I don’t know why you got me a room. That was stupid.” 

Tony walked into the room after Peter. He knew Peter was struggling with all of these mixed emotions because he was the one who willingly chose everything in there for his room. 

“We can talk about this tomorrow but right now, it’s time for bed so let’s go.” Tony grabbed onto Peter’s leg’s but Peter ripped it away from Tony and let out a scream. 

“Peter, you’re acting this way because you’re over tired so let’s go to bed.” Pepper tried but she was exhausted and defeated. 

“No! I’m acting this way because I hate you guys! I want to go back home to my dad and you’re keeping me here and I just… I just wanna go home.” Peter broke off at the end and started crying so Tony took that opportunity to grab his hand again and lead him towards his bedroom that was next to theirs. 

When Peter walked inside, he started tugging on Tony’s hand to let him get out but Pepper walked in after them and shut the door. Peter fell to the ground in front of Tony and started to smack at his legs weakly. 

It was Pepper’s first time seeing Peter’s bedroom. Everything was built and put together with the blinds and curtains up. His bed was next to the wall, on the same side of the door with his dresser being on the opposite side of that and his toy chest was by the window. 

The set up was nice but it was still incomplete and still looked like a guess room with nothing in it that screamed Peter. Besides for Peter screaming on the floor. 

Despite the screaming, Pepper smiled because just yesterday the room was completely empty. She often found herself going into the bedroom to try and picture what it would look like complete. 

If there would still be a crib but that design slowly left as time went on. Then she pictured a toddler bed then as more time went on it moved to a big boy bed and now here they were. 

It calmed her and made her feel relieved even with Peter in emotional agony on the floor. 

With that peace of mind, Pepper went to go kneel down and talk to Peter but Tony grabbed him by the underarms and lifted him up onto his bed, rather roughly. 

“Sleep.” Tony lifted up Peter’s kicking legs to pull the already washed sheets down and pulled them up and over Peter’s head. “It’s late and it’s time for bed, Peter.” 

“Tony, stop. He’s scared.” Pepper sat down and pulled the blankets back down and let Peter sit up. She watched as Peter crawled out from under the blankets but then he was moving to get off the bed but he caught Tony’s eye and stopped. 

Instead, he laid down against the wall with his knees tucked under him as he laid down on his stomach. He sucked in a breath of air and stopped crying but his eyes were still glued on Tony. 

“Sleep good, Peter. We’ll be in our room if you need us.” Pepper said to him with a weak smile and then stood up. Peter looked at her and yawned and then reached over to grab his blanket from before that was placed in his room. 

“I love you so much, Peter. I want you to know that.” Tony spoke with so much emotion in his voice that it had Peter believing it but he didn’t feel the same way. 

After that, they both left the room but they left the door open. Peter didn’t even notice when Tony had turned his closet light on for him. 

With that in mind, he held his blanket up to his nose and fell asleep. 

In the next room, Tony collapsed onto the bed. “I am exhausted. I haven’t slept in over two days.” 

“I know. Hopefully we have no awakenings until at least seven tomorrow morning.” Pepper said from the bathroom as she started brushing her teeth. 

Tony stood up and walked into the bathroom to join her so he could get into bed as quickly as he could because he was exhausted but once all the lights were off and they were back in bed, he couldn’t fall asleep. 

He turned over and looked at the time. It was 12:47am but now he felt as if he wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon. 

He rubbed at his eyes and got out of bed so he could go check on Peter but when he got out of bed, Pepper was speaking. “Tony?” 

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m gonna go check on Peter.” 

“I was already awake. Maybe it’s best if you let him be alone for tonight. If he sees you, he might come out of his room.” Pepper sat up and ran a hand down her face. 

Nothing seemed to change during all these years. Peter slept with them almost every single night for two years and then when they tried to put him into his own room, the exact same conversations were being said between the two. 

Peter would scream and cry then Tony would want to go check up on him most nights and some nights he would even bring Peter back into bed with him. 

“No. It’s okay.” Tony said then left the bedroom. He walked over to Peter’s and listened in for anything but he couldn’t hear any crying so he walked into his room and saw that Peter was in the exact same position up against the wall where his feet are supposed to be. 

He carefully sat on the edge of the bed and watched his kid. 

Despite how the night started, it sure did have a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! I’m so mad because my job called me this morning asking for me to go in today to work like wtf I’m not supposed to start until Monday! But I said no do I’m going in tmr and Friday but I’m so mad because I wanted to enjoy my last two days at home and sleep in and write but I have to go! I know I should be appreciated that I have a job and I am, it’s just a really hard adjustment both mentally and physically after staying home and doing nothing basically all year 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter!! 
> 
> Peter’s bedroom set for anyone who wants to see it:) 
> 
> Bed: 
> 
> https://smhttp-ssl-82676-media.nexcesscdn.net/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/aea7f15b44a34ade31c237fba4b87a84/f/r/fr1464b_01_1.jpg
> 
> Nightstand table: 
> 
> https://johnlewis.scene7.com/is/image/JohnLewis/237176541
> 
> https://images.furnituredealer.net/img/products%2Fartisan__post%2Fcolor%2Fcool%20rustic-1795312347_170-002-b1.jpg
> 
> Curtains: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71H-ZDkhbvL._AC_SX425_.jpg
> 
> Lamp: 
> 
> https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/3b8fa59b-13c3-4542-880e-834b6f27bfa8_1.c2171e93960bc4e43da3f7c747bfc094.jpeg?odnWidth=612&odnHeight=612&odnBg=ffffff
> 
> Pool float Peter got stuck in: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61Ok3Phz2vL._AC_SL1000_.jpg


	8. I’m hanging on by a string

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I slept for 12 hours last night and I haven’t slept that long since I was a baby like omg I was exhausted from work and I only worked two dayssssss ahhhh!! But I’m having a Halloween photo shoot with my kitten tmr and I’m so excited!!

The next few days until Natasha arrived were hard to say the least. 

Morgan was going back to school that following Monday and so was Harley which meant that they only had two more days until a routine had to start which was also going to be incredibly hard when they had Peter who wasn’t in school yet. 

Either way, they would figure everything out and it would be okay. 

Hopefully. 

It just didn’t seem that way right now for the Stark’s. 

Peter was in a fairly good mood on that Friday and both Tony and Pepper knew that it was because Natasha was coming which they hated because they knew that in Peter’s mind, he would be going back ‘home’. 

It was so draining for the parents since they thought that they were making progress with Peter. They had so many mood times throughout the day with Peter laughing and bonding with Harley and Morgan and even smiling at Pepper and Tony but now, they felt like they were way back at the beginning and it was frustrating. 

Peter was sitting on the steps of the stairs, silently waiting for Natasha to ring the doorbell. 

Tony walked past the door and looked at Peter. “She’s not coming for another hour so how about you come outside with Morgan and Harley before they have to go back to school on Monday.” 

Peter continued to stare at the door as he slowly shook his head. “How about you leave me alone and let me do what I wanna do.” 

Tony was going to let that slide but he couldn’t. If any one of his other kids spoke to him with that attitude, he would tell them off and Peter was his kid so why was he letting Peter get away with that. “Excuse me. You do not speak to me that way. I was giving you an option before but now I’m not. Stand up and go outside.” 

Peter looked up at Tony with daggers in his eyes. “No. I told you I don’t want to.” 

“Peter. Get outside. If I have to ask you again, I will pick you up and take you out there myself.” Tony debated on sending Peter to his room but he knew that Peter hated being alone and he also didn’t want Peter to associate his bedroom with anger and punishment. 

Peter debated whether or not Tony was bluffing before he decided not to test the man. He stood up with a groan and stomped his way outside but Tony counted that as a win either way. 

He followed Peter outside and watched as Peter sat himself down on one of the pool chairs rather roughly then he pulled his knees to his chest and crossed his arms with a permanent frown on his face. 

Tony looked away and sat down next to Pepper who was busy doing stuff on her computer. “At least you got him outside.” 

“Yeah. I can not wait until Natasha comes so I can ask her if it’s best to start telling Peter the unfiltered truth.” Tony was counting down the hours almost as much as Peter was so when he got a text from Natasha saying that she is outside, he was immediately standing up and going to answer the door. 

“I’m so glad that you’re here. Come in but don’t go near the backyard windows.” Tony warned her as he shut the front door behind her and locked it. 

“And why not?” She asked and looked around the house. 

“Because Peter is dying for you to come but Pep and I want to talk to you first about some stuff.” Tony rushed out as he led her towards the back doors but Natasha continued to follow him. “Stay here while I get Pep.” 

“Tony, I’m going out to say hi to Peter. I’m not going to ignore him while I talk to you guys.” Natasha said to Tony who rolled his eyes but let her come out with him anyways. 

Natasha looked around the backyard and spotted Peter so she greeted Pepper and then walked towards Peter sulking on the pool chairs. 

“Hi Natasha!” Morgan yelled then jumped into the pool. 

“Hi Morgan. How are you?” As always, Morgan was too busy to answer so Natasha continued to walk over to Peter who had bolted up to look at her. “Hi honey. How are you doing?” 

“Is it time to go home? Did you find my dad?” Peter asked her desperately. 

Natasha was already ready for these questions that she hated answering. She reached out to rub Peter’s knee after she sat down on the edge of the chair. “No, Peter. We talked about this before.” 

Peter pushed her hands off and laid back down. “Then go away.” 

Natasha held her hands in her lap and looked at the child. “I want to talk to you later but I’m going to talk to your parents first.” 

“Not my parents.” Peter mumbled. 

With that, Natasha stood up and walked over to Tony and Pepper and followed them inside after Harley was left in charge of watching his two siblings. 

“How has it been?” Natasha asked, setting her folder and purse down and sitting back on the couch to listen to the parents. 

Tony sighed loudly. “Not easy. It was actually better in the beginning. He uh, him and Morgan are really getting along. Those two are always getting into trouble when left alone and actually have a lot in common. Peter and Harley are bonding a lot. Probably most out of everyone um… Harley’s trying to teach Peter how to swim but Peter refuses to take off his life jacket.” 

“Bedtimes are hard.” Pepper budded in. “As always though. He refuses to go to sleep so we end up sitting around for hours until he actually gets into bed so there’s that.” 

“Bedtimes are always a huge adjustment. Does he have his own room now?” Natasha asked them. 

“Yeah. He picked out his own stuff so he sleeps in there now. It’s still looking like a spare room. We bought him lego stuff but he hasn’t opened them up yet.” Tony answered and let out another frustrated sigh. He just wanted to bring some life into Peter’s room. 

“That will take time. As everything else will.” 

“Yeah, so we wanted to talk to you about this whole Steve the kidnapper being called dad by Peter. Still.” Tony started. “He stills refers to Rogers as dad and as fucking hard as it is, especially for me, we let it slide because you told us to and we agreed but now we don’t.” 

“It’s just that…” Pepper paused to try and find the right words to use. “It’s hard but we would put up with it if it meant it was helping Peter heal but now it’s not. It’s not letting him move on and heal because right now, he still thinks of… his kidnapper as dad and we don’t correct him.” 

Natasha was nodding her head and getting ready to speak when they were done. “Of course. In the beginning, everything was a huge adjustment and it still is but that is true. As of now, it will be best for Peter to stop calling Steve Rogers his father. When he does that, you can explain to him in your own words that that is not who that man is.” 

Tony was so happy to hear that they could start doing that now. 

“Also,” Natasha continued. “if you don’t already but it’s important for you guys to start speaking to Peter as mom and dad. So Tony, if you are talking to Peter about Pepper you would refer to her as mom. Same with you, Pepper. Tony will be referred to as dad and when speaking in general terms, parents.” 

Tony listened to her. He had already wanted to do that from the beginning but he stopped himself for Peter’s sake. He was glad that they could now. Baby steps. 

“As well as when he says ‘you’re not my dad or you aren’t my parents’, you correct him and say ‘yes we are your parents Peter’. It’s important for him to start associating that part of title with you guys.” 

“Okay. Okay that’s good. And what about…” Tony looked over at Pepper because he couldn’t find the words to ask his questions since his mind was running a mile a minute. 

Pepper finished for him. “What about what we tell him about Rogers? Are we sugar coating anything or are we telling him how it is?” 

Natasha thought about it for a few moments. “What have you told him so far?” 

“Uh…” Tony thought about it. “Just that he stole you away from us when you were a baby. Um,” He looked over at Pepper who was just staring at him. “That’s it. Just saying that over and over again.” 

Natasha nodded. “Alright. I think it’s best to continue on saying just that right now. It might be too much for him if you start explaining the mental illness that comes from kidnapping a child and raising him as your own. Plus he’s too young for all that right now so that can be saved for a time when he is older.” 

Both Tony and Pepper agreed but they already knew Peter was way too young to hear about that right now. 

“So, how are his legal documents coming along?” She asked, pulling out some paperwork from her folder. 

“Good. I got everything under control. Uh, my lawyer’s work fast so um, they got everything under control but it’ll take a few more days.” Tony clapped his hands together and tried to look at the papers that Natasha was pulling out. 

“Perfect. And school? Any talk about that or too soon?” 

“Oh. Well… Tony and I talked about it and we are going to send Peter to Morgan’s elementary school and then after that we don’t know. We also don’t know when he will be starting.” Pepper answered and leaned back to run a hand over her face, just thinking about all the stress that was to come. 

“As long as you guys have some sort of plan then it takes away from any uncertainties a bit.” Natasha reassured them and then slid a stack of papers between the two. “Alright. A lot of stuff to go over. These are Peter’s transcripts from kindergarten all the way to grade three. There are teachers notes in there as well and his grade four teacher said that if you want to call him to talk about Peter and how he is in school, you are more than welcome to.” 

Tony looked at the most recent years and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. His baby is incredibly smart. 

Natasha must have picked up on it as well. “He’s smart, isn’t he?” 

Tony nodded and showed Pepper his recent marks. “Yeah. He gets that from me. Oh my god. Look at that, A plus in science. Look at our baby go.” 

Pepper wiped a few tears from her face but they were happy tears. “Yeah. I knew it though. He’s a baby genius. Our baby genius.” 

“Fuck yeah he is.” Tony looked over the grades again but put it down. He would look at it more thoroughly later tonight. If Peter went to bed quickly. 

“I want to know that you guys are ready to see the face of Steve Rogers, the man who raised your son before we move forward?” Natasha had gotten more serious and that made a shiver run down Tony’s spine. 

He reached out to hold onto Pepper’s hand and looked over at her as he answered. “Yes. No but we need to just so we know. So we know if he ever tried to approach Peter since he’s still on the run.” 

Pepper didn’t speak but she nodded her head. Natasha then placed a single picture onto the table so both parents looked at it but didn’t move it any closer. 

Tony looked at his features. He tried to remember if he saw that man in the park that day. Maybe he had been watching their family for days, maybe weeks. 

He tried to memorize every single detail so he could be on the lookout for that man. 

After staring at the picture, Tony felt sick. 

The face that he was looking at was the same face that Peter recognized as his dad. The same face that raised his kid. That taught Peter so many things and got to hold and cuddle him. The face that Peter had been crying for since he got back to them. 

Without another thought, Tony pushed the picture away from them. “Okay. Get that out of here. I don’t want my kids seeing that.” 

Natasha took it off the table and back into her folder. 

“Their house was located and searched for any type of evidence of anything. Nothing came back strange but everything was collected. All of the pictures from the time Peter was kidnapped until now.” Natasha explained to them which got their interest peaked. 

“Do you have some of the pictures here?” Pepper asked, letting go of Tony and sitting up on the couch more. 

Natasha nodded. “I brought a few but I need to ask some questions first. Of course there are thousands of pictures but Steve Rogers is in a lot of those pictures with him so my question is, would you guys want to see those pictures or simply just pictures with Peter?” 

Tony thought about it. He was dying to see Peter at every age of his life and wanted to know what he was like but the only person he could ask was the person he wanted to kill. 

He didn’t think he could stand the sight of Peter with that bastard holding and smiling next to his son. “Um… right now, no but I don’t, maybe some time in the future.” 

“I don’t ever want to see those pictures. I want the pictures of our son, just our son but that’s it.” Pepper spoke strongly and wiped at her cheeks. 

“Alright. Some detectives are sorting through every single picture right now and then the ones of just Peter will be ready for you in about a week.” Natasha explained but Tony was having mixed emotions. 

Either way, for Peter the pictures would bring back so many memories. Happy and sad so maybe it was best to not bring those pictures into their home. Tony was so frustrated because as much as he didn’t want to see photos of Rogers with his son, he was torn between wanting to know every single possible detail and not wanting to know anything at all. 

Tony rubbed at his eyes. “Can we see some pictures of him now?” 

“Of course.” Both parents watched anxiously as Natasha started looking through her folder. “I have four. One from age five, two from age six and one from age seven.” 

Natasha placed all four pictures in front of Tony and Pepper and watched as their faces lit up and they immediately reached for one. 

Tony grabbed a picture of six year old Peter who was looking at the camera with so much Stark attitude. He let out a wet laugh and leaned over to Pepper. “Look at our baby. Look at his hair, oh my god.” 

Pepper couldn’t contain her tears again. It was between her crying happy tears and her crying sad tears over Peter. She leaned against Tony’s shoulder to look at the picture of Peter that he was holding and grabbed it from him. “Oh my gosh. And look at those baby teeth in mine.” Pepper handed Tony her picture and he felt his own tears start to burn his eyes. 

He missed so much. 

He missed this stage. Peter was looking into the camera, posing the way that Pepper always poses for photos, always so naturally. He let out a dry laugh and picked up another picture. “He would be Morgan’s age in this picture.” 

Pepper looked at it and smiled, almost sadly. “Yeah. He’s so tiny though.” 

Tony agreed. Peter was born three weeks premature so maybe that would explain it. He’s also been an extremely picky eater so they always struggled to feed Peter something that wasn’t Pepper’s breast milk from the time Peter was with them for the first two years of his life. 

“That’s okay. I like it better that way because I just,” Tony put his head in his hand and looked down at the picture. “I just want to hold him.” 

“One day, you will get there.” Natasha reassured them but it did little to help the touch starved parents. 

“One day when? Five years from now when he doesn’t even want to cuddle with us? I can’t-” Tony sighed loudly and stood up to run his hands through his hair. He walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside. 

He saw Peter sitting down on the pool chair, curled into a ball and it hurt him so much to see Peter hurting like that and not know how to help him. 

It hurted him to hear Peter calling for another man that wasn’t him. 

“I can’t give you an answer, Tony. You need to help Peter understand that that man who he calls dad, is not his dad and that you are.” Natasha put everything into her folder and shut it before tucking it away into her purse. She stood up and walked over to Tony to rub his back. “It’ll be okay. Trust me. Everything will be okay one day.” 

Tony found that hard to believe. How could everything be okay when they had Peter back but it still didn’t feel like they actually had him back? 

“Just because you don’t see a light at the end of this long tunnel right now, doesn’t mean there isn’t a light waiting for you at the end. You just have to go day by day and be patient.” With that, Natasha walked outside to go and talk to Peter, leaving Tony and Pepper alone with their thoughts. 

Natasha walked over to the pool chair that Peter was still curled into a ball on and she sat down. “You’re gonna get burnt if you sit out here any longer with no sunscreen.” 

Peter lifted his head up to look at Natasha. “Well daddy always puts it on for me and he’s not here.” 

“That man was never your daddy, Peter. I know you know that. Tony is your dad. He always has been, Steve was just playing a part.” Natasha rubbed Peter’s back and he turned towards her. 

“That’s not true.” Peter whispered, reaching out to play with the ring on Natasha’s hand. “Are you married?” 

Natasha smiled at the change of topic so randomly. “Yeah, I am but this,” Natasha held up her other hand with her ring finger on it. “is my ring.” 

Peter reached for her hand to look at the ring. “Oh. It’s pretty. Do you have any kids?” 

Natasha knew what Peter was doing. She knew that he was trying to change the topic so she would stop talking about Steve but she decided to play along for a bit. “We don’t have any kids yet.” 

“Why?” 

“Well… I guess we were never in any rush to have any. I work with kids all day and so does my husband. He’s a paediatrician.” 

Peter frowned. “What’s that?” 

“A paediatrician? It’s someone who is a doctor to little kids like you. So when you go to the doctors, you will see a paediatrician.” Natasha explained to the boy and crossed her legs. 

“Well… I’ve never been to the doctors before. My dad used to just take me to um, like what do you call it like a walk in clinic.” Peter explained to Natasha. 

She nodded her head. “Yeah, and do you know why you were never brought to the doctors?” 

Peter looked away from her and started playing with the string on his pants. “Ummm… well because I never got sick so I never needed to.” 

Natasha was shaking her head so Peter looked up at her and frowned. “Everyone should be going to the doctors at least twice a year for a checkup. Especially children because they are still growing.” 

“What’s a checkup?” Peter asked her, moving so he could put his feet together. 

“When the doctor looks at everything to make sure that you’re working properly. To make sure your heart is still beating,” Natasha reached over to tickle Peter’s chest which caused him to start giggling. “And your ribs…” 

Peter laughed even harder when Natasha ran her fingers over his rib cage. 

After Peter’s laughing died down, he stared up at her so she decided to start the hard topic now. “I want to go talk to you so where do you want to go?” 

Peter looked away and tried to turn back onto his side but Natasha stopped him. “No. I don’t want to talk to you.” 

“How about we go talk in your bedroom? You can show me around.” Natasha was already standing up so Peter didn’t have much of a choice but to follow her. 

She let Peter lead the way to his bedroom even though she already knew where it was. When they got upstairs, Peter walked into his room and sat on his bed with a pout on his face. 

“I like my old bedroom more.” Peter said sadly. 

Natasha looked around the room. It was nice but nothing screamed Peter in it. It just looked like a well put together guest bedroom. 

She sat down on the bed, across from Peter. “Why do you say that?” 

“Because,” He groaned and threw himself back on the bed with his arms above his head. “I had all my toys and my comfy blankets that I always had good dreams in and it was messy but I liked it messy because all my toys were there.” 

“I know your mom and dad would happily buy you some toys if you ask them to. They want to but they don’t know what you like.” 

Peter turned on the bed so he could put his legs up on the wall. “But I don’t want any toys because then I’ll be leaving soon to go back to my dad.” 

“That’s not true, Peter. You only believe it to be true but it is not true.” She told him and watched as it processed through Peter’s mind. He moved closer to the wall so he could bang on it with his feet. “Stop that.” 

“No.” 

Natasha reached over and pulled one of Peter’s legs down so he would stop. “It’s really important for you to understand what we are telling you, Peter.” 

Peter smiled and looked over at her. “You’re telling me pee pee poo poo. That’s all I hear.” 

“Okay.” Natasha looked down at the boy defeately. “Let’s let your mom and dad come up and talk with us.” 

“No! I don’t want them to come up and he’s not my dad.” Peter pushed himself up halfway so he could be closer to Natasha’s face. 

“Tony’s not your dad? But what about Pepper?” She asked him curiously because Peter hadn’t said anything about Pepper not being his mom. She knew it was because Steve was already filling in the spot of a father figure in Peter’s eyes so that was going to be hard to work on. 

“No. My dad said my mom’s dead so I never knew what it was like to have a mom.” The thought of even having a mom was crazy to Peter but he didn’t know how to react. He didn’t know how. 

Natasha continued looking at him, wanting to know what was going on in Peter’s mind of his. “I can’t even imagine how hard that was for you. How hard this all is for you but you know that you are never alone. You have a family here that loves you so much and is waiting for you to love them back.” 

Peter nodded his head. He knew that they all loved him but he didn’t understand why. He wasn’t their kid. He didn’t belong with them. “I think I’m gonna miss Morgan and Harley the most when I leave.” 

“Where are you going?” Natasha asked him, sadly already knowing the answer to that question. 

Peter looked at her like it was obvious. “Back with my dad.” 

“I’m going to bring up your parents, okay? Then we will all talk together.” With that, Natasha left the room to go and get Tony and Pepper who were sitting anxiously outside. 

When they arrived in the bedroom, Peter looked over at them from where he had his feet on the wall still. He watched carefully as Tony and Pepper sat down on the bed and Natasha pulled up his desk chair to sit down on it. 

“Peter and I were just talking. How about you tell your parents what we were talking about?” Natasha waited for Peter to correct her but he didn’t. 

“We were talking about pee pee and poo poo.” Peter said with a grin and looked over at the adults who weren’t smiling so he stopped smiling and looked back at the wall. 

“Can you sit up and face us please?” Pepper asked him and tapped on Peter’s arm so Peter reached his arms above his head to grab onto her hand. 

“No.” 

“Peter.” Tony warned, looking at his son and wishing he didn’t have to always be the bad guy but Peter didn’t listen and it was frustrating for everyone, including Peter. 

Peter sat up, looking at Tony with a dirty look on his face. He moved closer to Pepper so he was sitting at her side. 

The action made something flutter in Peppers stomach to have her baby close to her but she also knew that Peter was doing it to make Tony angry. 

“I want to go home.” He said quietly then looked up at Natasha. 

“You are home now, Peter. We talked about this.” Peter stood up and walked closer to Natasha. He let out a puff of air and whined. 

“I want to go back to my dad.” 

“Back to Steve?” Natasha asked and Peter nodded with a silent ‘yeah’. “Tony is your dad. I know you know that.” 

Peter started chewing on his nails and looked over at Tony who was staring at him. He looked exhausted and Peter felt a bit bad because he knew that was his fault. He turned back to Natasha. “I mean Steve. I want to go back to Steve.” 

“Steve is a bad person, Peter. What he did was so wrong so you can’t go back to him because this is your family. They always have been and always will be.” 

Peter groaned. He felt like they were on a broken record and he was tired of hearing about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like that ended on a really random spot but I had absolutely no idea how else to end it without making it boring and kinda repetitive 
> 
> The picture of Steve they saw: 
> 
> https://theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Chris-Evans-in-Gifted-2017.jpg
> 
> The pics of little pete: 
> 
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEtbcT7XcAAtePV.jpg
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3b/0c/d7/3b0cd7b5f98e79a9d24ee35d5caf5545.jpg
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/f4/c1/d3f4c1dd6ada119656837e65f3e852bc.jpg
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/26/43/132643e86eae0567e12fb23bad07483a.jpg


	9. The rainbow after a storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love October so much! Today I went out and got a bunch of Halloween decorations and ahhh omg I’m so happy with how my room and the house looks! I LOVE Halloween so much idkkk just the vibes are the best!

Tony didn’t know where they went wrong. 

Nothing they were doing was making the situation better and it was putting everyone in a bad mood. 

Ever since Natasha left the house two days ago, refusing to take Peter with her, Peter had been in the worst mood that they had ever seen him in and it wasn’t going away. 

Tony had called Natasha multiple times to tell her to come back and help them but she refused and said that it was healthy to let Peter go through the emotions. 

He didn’t know what about this was healthy. 

Peter was crying or screaming at any point of the day. If he wasn’t doing that, he was pouting loudly in a corner where he made sure everyone could see him which was hard on the family because they knew they had to ignore Peter for the most part because he was doing it for attention so that they would send him back to his kidnapper in Peter’s mind. 

The breaking point for Tony was last night at dinner when they were all sitting at the dining room table eating but Peter refused to eat so they had to let him pout on the floor but Tony couldn’t sit there and eat while his kid sat on the floor and cried under his chair. 

Even though Peter was doing it willingly and they asked him multiple times to sit on a chair and eat, Tony got up and left the table to go sit in the basement at an empty bar for two hours. 

Now, it was Monday morning and it was hell in the Stark household. 

It was the first day returning back to school for Harley and Morgan so Pepper was going to take them while Tony stayed at home with Peter and let him sleep in but Morgan started throwing a fit right outside of Peter’s bedroom door which caused Peter to wake up. 

“I’m not going to school! Peter gets to stay home.” Morgan cried as Tony tried to get her shirt on while she screamed and kicked at him. 

“I want to go back to school.” Peter said from where he was sitting and watching Tony struggle with Morgan. 

“We’ll talk about it later, Peter.” Tony lifted Morgan into his arms and carried her downstairs to get her shoes on since she already ate. 

Peter followed them down the stairs and sat down on the bottom of the steps. “Tony? Tony? She doesn’t want to go.” 

Tony ignored his son which he hated to do so much but he had to in that moment. He grabbed Morgan’s foot to get her shoe on and felt his headache coming on which he knew was bound to be there until he went to bed tonight. 

“I’m not going to school, daddy!” Morgan cried out so Peter picked up her other shoe and threw it so Tony couldn’t get it to put it on her. 

Everyone froze. Tony looked at Peter and raised his eyebrows at him. So it was two against one and it wasn’t even eight in the morning yet. 

Tony got up to go get her shoe which he regretted immediately because both of the kids took off in opposite directions so he stopped and took a few seconds to himself to try and not freak out. 

It was always hard to get Morgan to school in the mornings, especially after the weekend but now she was off for a whole week and Peter was back so he understood how hard it was for her but she had to go to school. 

Harley ran down the stairs and started putting his shoes on. “Let’s go, dad. School starts soon.” 

“Your mother is taking you today. And your sister isn’t even ready yet.” Tony told his oldest then tried to go find Morgan so he could get her other shoe on and get her into her car seat. 

“Morgan. I’m not playing with you. Come out here right now.” Tony used his firm dad voice and walked into the living room to find Morgan hiding behind the side table so he moved it out from the wall and picked her up all in one motion. 

He carried his screaming child back to the front door where he saw Peter standing there. “She doesn’t want to go! She doesn’t want to go!” 

“Peter.” Tony snapped. “She has to go to school.” 

Pepper walked around the corner with Morgan’s backpack and opened up the front door just as Asier ran in. “How did the dog get out in the front?” 

“Shit. I forgot to let him back in last night.” Tony swore and felt extremely bad for their dog. It was just too much at once. 

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Morgan started saying which had Peter gasping and going wide eyed. 

“Enough. I don’t want to hear that word leave your mouth again.” Tony warned her and then looked over at Peter who was getting his shoes on as well. “You aren’t going anywhere, Peter.” 

Peter paused and looked up at him with a different look in his eyes before the tears started. Tony looked at Pepper and the two of them just stared at each other for a few moments as if their whole world around them wasn’t drowning them as they stood. 

Tony looked at Morgan who was now calm because it was Peter’s turn. They were working off of each other. “Okay. School time. Harley take Morgan’s backpack and Morgan let’s go.” 

Morgan shook her head at Pepper and went to run away again but Tony grabbed her and held her as if he was holding a sack of potatoes. “I’ll take her to the car, Peter, you stay here.” 

“No!” Peter cried out because he was barely allowed to leave his house at all for his whole life so he wanted to leave now if everyone else was leaving too. 

The whole family went outside, probably waking up all of the neighbours with Peter’s crying and Morgan’s screaming and now Asier’s barking for food at the front door. 

Tony buckled Morgan into her car seat and felt Peter trying to squeeze into the car with them. “Peter no. You’re staying at home with me. Come out.” 

Peter sat down in the seat next to Morgan’s. They owned a Dodge caravan that they only had for three months but it looked like they had it for three years with all the stains, garbage and toys lying around. 

Once Morgan was buckled, Tony climbed into the car to grab Peter’s arm so he could pull him out. “No! Noooo!” 

“You can’t go with them because you don’t have a car seat yet.” Tony explained to Peter then got him out of the car and set him on his feet but held him by his arm so he could slam the door shut. 

Peter fell onto his knees in front of him while Tony walked over to the drivers window to give Pepper a kiss, despite how crazy everything was around them. He pulled away and smiled. “The life of three kids.” 

Pepper smiled. “Looks good on us. See you soon. I love you, Peter.” 

Tony lifted Peter up but he went deadweight in his arms so he lifted him fully into his arms and waved bye to his family as they pulled out of the driveway. He then struggled to walk with Peter back into the house. “Asier. Enough. I’m going to feed you in a minute.” 

Tony shut the front door and locked it then looked at Peter, who he had placed on the ground and fixed his pyjama shirt that had lifted up as he was being carried. 

“They’re coming back, Peter.” Tony reassured him. He didn’t know why Peter was freaking out the way he was and acting as if everyone was leaving him and never coming back although, he should know why. It was just really hard for him to think about. He then stood up to go feed their dog in the kitchen with Peter following him right after and tugged on his arm. 

“They’re going to-to have fun without me. Everyone does!” Peter cried out which made Tony realize something. 

He quickly put a food bowl and freshwater out for Asier then gently walked Peter over to the kitchen stools so he could sit down and Peter stand between his legs. “Oh baby. That’s not true anymore. How about I call Pepper right now so she goes and buys you a car seat and then while they’re at school, we’ll go get ice cream or something then after school is done, we’ll all go pick them up.” 

Peter wiped at his eyes and grabbed onto Tony’s arm’s as he thought about it. “I just… before, I wasn’t allowed to have any fun all the time and I was so sad. And, now Harley and Morgan get to leave the house and I want to too but I can’t.” 

Tony loved this moment. Peter was actually talking to him. He had been screaming and talking back for the past few days and now he was actually having a conversation with him. 

Tony reached out to rub a thumb over Peter’s cheek and Peter leaned into the touch, melting Tony’s heart. “But you can now, baby. You just couldn’t take them to school because we haven’t gotten you a car seat yet.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes again. “Don’t need one.” 

“You’re under eighty pounds so yeah, you do.” Tony laughed dryly and wanted to press a kiss onto Peter’s forehead so badly but he stopped himself. 

Peter just stared at him for a few seconds and Tony stared back, trying to think about what was going through Peter’s mind before Peter was lifting his leg up and grabbing onto Tony’s shirt to pull himself onto his lap. 

Tony picked up his baby and held him on his lap. He let Peter position himself so that each leg was on either side and Peter looked at him for a few more seconds before laying his head on his chest. 

Tony tried not to cry. He tried so hard but in that moment, he couldn’t. He laid his head on top of Peter’s and enjoyed the warm weight on his lap. 

It really was true about the rainbows after a bad storm. 

Tony grabbed his phone on the table to send Pepper a quick text so she could go buy a car seat and then stood up, hoping that the movement didn’t make Peter want to leave his arms. 

He walked over to the couch with him still holding Peter in his arms and sat down. Peter rubbed his face up against the side of Tony’s sturdy chests and sighed in contentment. 

They stayed like that until Tony felt Peter’s breath even out, meaning that he had fallen asleep. Tony hoped that playing with Peter’s hair would get him to fall asleep since he always did it when Peter was a baby and plus he wanted this moment to last longer. 

When Pepper got home, she placed the car seat box on the floor and walked into the kitchen but froze once she saw the scene on the couch. 

Tony gave her a smile but was too afraid to talk and risk waking Peter up. Pepper covered her mouth and slowly walked over to them, kneeling down in front of the two. 

“Is he asleep?” She whispered and Tony nodded. She pulled out her phone to take a few pictures and then she was setting it down and moving to look at Peter’s face that was tucked safely against his father’s chest. 

“How long has he been there for?” She asked, moving to sit next to them. 

Tony’s hand went to gently pat Peter’s butt, subconsciously remembering what he used to do to Peter all those years ago. 

“About forty minutes. Whenever I texted you. I just carried him over here.” Tony whispered then leaned down to check if Peter was still asleep. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of him. 

Pepper wiped a few happy tears and looked over at Tony. “Maybe all the screaming and crying was worth it after all.” 

As much as Tony hated the crying, he would listen to it all over again if him and Peter ended up like this. Not that he had much of a choice to listen to the crying. 

“He um, he was saying that he didn’t want to be left out of the fun so I promised him ice cream.” Tony explained to her and looked down to try and see Peter’s face but he couldn’t from the angle he was at. “Then he fell asleep.” He added. 

“And I thought we had a ten year old.” Pepper cheekily said and turned to look at Peter’s face since she could see him from her angle. 

Peter slept on Tony until half past ten and Tony loved every second of it. He was a bit anxious for when Peter would wake up since he wasn’t sure if Peter would have wanted to be near him but when Peter woke up, he clumsily slid off of Tony and walked into the kitchen asking for breakfast so it was okay. 

It was really important for Tony and Pepper to get one on one time with Peter, especially with him being an only child for all the life that he could remember so Peter was taking really well to it. 

Just after 1pm, Peter ran up to Tony who was doing the dishes by the sink and he tugged on his arm. “Tony, you said something about ice cream before.” 

Tony looked over at the little cheeky smile that Peter was giving him and he didn’t know how he could say no to that. “I was waiting for you to come and get me out of doing the dishes.” 

Tony rinsed off his last dish and dried his hands off then grabbed the car seat box to open it up so they could go. “Can you grab me a knife, Peter?” Tony asked and watched Peter go into the kitchen before he added, “And be careful.” 

Peter handed him the knife and sat on his knees to watch Tony pull his new car seat out of the box. His old one was green but over the years it turned black with food stains and a few other stuff. 

“Like it?” Tony asked, putting it down in front of Peter before attaching the cup holders. 

“Hmm, yeah.” Peter ran his hand over the material and then stood up. “Ice cream now?” 

“Yep. Go get your shoes on.” Tony stood up and grabbed the knife to put away and then the car seat and headed to the door. 

Pepper walked down the stairs and looked at Tony with the booster seat in his hand. “Are we ready to go?” 

“Yeah. You’re coming right?” Peter asked Pepper while Tony bent down to tie his shoes but then untied them and thought better of it. 

“Of course I am.” Pepper smiled at her boy and went to get her own shoes on. 

Tony tapped on Peter’s thigh. “Hey bud, I’m gonna teach you how to tie a shoe now. Watch what I’m doing.” 

Peter looked down at him and pulled his foot away. “No just… you do it. It’ll be faster.” 

“Well I’m gonna teach you so it doesn’t take as long. It’ll be faster if you knew how already.” Tony grabbed Peter’s leg again and so Peter squatted down to watch carefully. 

“Okay, watch me. I’ll go slow at first and then explain it then you can try.” Tony slowly tied up his shoe and then went through each step as slow as he could go and then it was Peter’s turn. 

“Cross it over. Then… make bunny ears… and… then,” Peter looked over at Tony for help with the next step. 

“Then the bunny ears cross over…” As Tony watched on, he felt the proudness blossom in his chest. No matter what, the feeling of teaching your child something and seeing them accomplish that was one of the best feelings in the world. 

He watched on while Peter slowly but surely tied his shoe. He did the last knot and looked over at Tony with so much happiness in his eyes. “Did I do it?” 

“Yes you did! Look at that, that was so amazing, buddy. I’m so proud of you.” Tony ruffled Peter’s curls and wanted to pick him up to hold him against his chest but they still weren’t there yet. 

Pepper let Tony have his moment but she couldn’t stop herself from congratulating her baby on his well overdue accomplishment. “Good job, Peter. You are so smart. You really do take after your dad.” 

“Yeah.” Peter looked over at Tony with a huge smile on his face but then he immediately looked down and the smile fell. 

It was sad to see but Tony was used to it. He wanted to move on to keep the mood up. “Let’s go get ice cream now.” 

Once they were in the van with Tony double checking that Peter was okay and buckled in properly, he pulled out of the driveway and began driving. 

It was their first time taking Peter out of the house in a car. The only other time was in the police car which wasn’t the best of times for Peter although it was for Tony and Pepper because it was when they got their baby back. 

“Have you ever been to Don’s Ice Cream Shack before, Pete?” Tony asked him as he pulled into the parking lot where the old store was. It was a family tradition to go every Friday but that didn’t last long because there was always someone who wasn’t feeling up for it and that person was mainly Tony. 

“Um, no.” Peter looked out the window and felt his mouth watering at just thinking about all the delicious ice cream flavours that were just waiting for him to try. 

Tony liked that. He liked teaching Peter new things and bringing him new places. “You’re gonna love it. They have this flavour called The Sky's The Limit and it tastes exactly like cotton candy.” 

Peter’s jaw dropped, he loved cotton candy but he was rarely allowed to eat it. “No way.” 

“Yeah, you can mix it or get just one flavour. It’s up to you.” Pepper couldn’t wait to see Peter’s reaction and when they got out of the car and went into the ice cream shop, Peter’s reaction did not disappoint. 

He was jumping around the store and that was before he got any ice cream in him. Tony was a bit worried to see how hyper he would be after. At least now he got to witness that. 

In the end, after ten minutes of deciding, Peter ended up getting Cookies n’Cream and cotton candy with a topping of gummy worms and chocolate syrup. 

The three of them walked outside and sat on one of the benches near the forest. There weren't many people around considering it was 2pm on a Monday afternoon but that’s what made it even more special. 

Peter sat on the same side as Tony with Pepper across from them. They hadn’t even been outside for a minute and the ice cream was already all the way down the front of Peter’s shirt. 

“Mmm. It’s good when I mix the two flavours together.” Peter put his face into the ice cream to grab a gummy worm. “It’s cold.” He spit it back into his cup and looked into Tony’s ice cream. 

“Why don’t you have any worms? Do you want one of mine?” He asked, getting ready to pick up the worm he just had in his mouth but Tony didn’t want one. 

“No thank you, buddy. Thanks though.” Tony couldn’t look away from Peter. He was mesmerizing to watch. And hilarious. 

Peter leaned over again to look in Tony’s bowl who had gotten the Cotton candy flavour. He wanted a bite since he already ate his but he didn’t want to ask. 

Thankfully Tony had seemed to pick up what he wanted because he was scooping a spoonful of ice cream and holding it out in front of him to grab the spoon. “Want a bite?” 

Peter nodded his head and leaned forward so he was getting a bite full of the flavour. Second best one. “Yum.” 

Tony tried not to react because he didn’t want to show that it was a big deal but it was. It totally was and he was freaking out on the inside. He looked over at Pepper who was smiling at what just happened until Peter was looking over at her. 

“You got nasty flavours.” Peter told her, being brutally honest. He was always told that he didn’t have a filter and that he needed to learn when not to say certain things but he didn’t see the problem with how he was. He liked it when people were honest with him and he liked being honest with everyone else. 

He looked down at his ice cream with a frown. Now that he was thinking about it, he was lied to his whole entire life so maybe he really should stop being so honest with everyone. 

“Want another bite?” Tony asked him, pulling him from his thoughts so Peter looked over and nodded his head then leaned forward for another spoonful. 

Tony noticed that Peter was slowly scooting closer to him so he wanted to keep feeding him ice cream until he got even closer. 

Peter moved closer to Tony to look into his bowl and put his hand on his thigh to balance himself as he sat on his knees. He grabbed his own ice cream and took a bit of that and moved his hand to hold onto Tony’s arm so he could sit himself down on his butt. 

Tony could just feel the stickiness all over his arm now but he didn’t care. Plus he had a six year old, he was used to it. He didn’t remember Harley being so messy at ten but Peter and Harley were polar opposites in every way. 

Peter sat up on his knees again and went to go for more of Tony’s ice cream when a man was walking up to their table. 

“Tony Stark and Pepper Stark, I heard on the news that your son was found. After seven years, oh my god-” 

“You need to leave. This isn’t an invitation to come and disturb our privacy, man.” Tony hated these vultures. They never cared about their grieving process when they lost Peter and now they won’t even let them heal. 

The man looked at Peter for a lot longer than necessary and then he was walking away from them. 

Tony felt sick. 

He thought back to when they first lost Peter and everyone was after them. With the Stark name being out in the public eye, a lot of attention was put on them and that attention made it hard for the grieving family to go through emotions in peace. 

Then came the conspiracy theories saying that they had killed Peter and hid his body. That they put him up for adoption because they didn’t love him anymore or that they sold him into child sex slavery. There were so many more conspiracies going on and it was so hard to not want to comment on every single one and tell everyone that it was all fucking bullshit but there was way too much. 

They needed to focus all their attention on finding Peter at the time. 

Now, it seemed like the same thing was happening all over again but they didn’t care because this time they had their baby back. 

Tony knew they were going to have to address everything soon but he wanted to hold off for as long as possible and not throw Peter into the direct spotlight. 

With a bunch of news stations and talk hosts wanting him to talk with them, it was getting out of hand. 

Peter looked at Tony, confused. “Why did he know your guy’s names? That was so weird.” 

Tony didn’t know what Peter knew exactly. “Well, that’s because we’re in the spotlight a lot because of our last name being Stark. From my company. So that puts a lot of attention on us.” 

Peter took another bite of his ice cream. “Oh. Are they gonna keep coming up to us?” 

“It’s possible but your dad and I will protect you and make sure that you’re always safe.” Pepper promised him, knowing how scary this all was for Peter and it being all so sudden. 

Peter looked back down at his ice cream to take another bite. “Oh. Alright.” 

That was an improvement since he didn’t try to deny the fact. 

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were back in the car and about to pick up Harley from high school which Peter was extremely excited for. He wanted to see the school and possibly get to see some of Harley’s friends or teachers. 

They arrived and parked on the side of the school, a bit away from the huge lineup of cars just waiting to pick up their children from school. Peter looked out the window and waited patiently to see a face that he recognized. 

“Hopefully not too much attention was on him today.” Pepper said which was the same thing that was on her mind all day. She was worried for Morgan as well but not as much since not many grade one’s knew what was going on in the news and hopefully the teachers weren’t being nosy and asking questions. 

“Hopefully not but probably.” Tony said honestly, he knew how cruel some kids in high school could be. Trying to get information out of him and that just wasn’t the kids, the teachers were probably pestering him for answers since they would have been old enough to have been watching this story right from the beginning. 

“He’s there.” Peter kicked the back of Tony’s seat in his excitement and watched as Harley walked with a group of friends back to the car. Peter didn’t want them to come because he didn’t like meeting new people but before they crossed the field in the front of the school, he was separating from the group. 

Harley opened up the van door and smiled so widely at Peter. “Hey Peter. I didn’t know you were coming.” He climbed over Morgan’s car seat and into the backseats so Peter turned his head around to see him. “What’s new with you?” 

“I want to sit back there with you.” Peter whined out and tried to make a move to take off his seatbelt but he didn’t want to get in trouble. When no one tried to stop him, he took off his seatbelt and went into the backseat where Harley was. 

“You need your car seat, Pete.” Tony told him. 

“I got it.” Harley reached over to unhook the booster seat and put it in the seat but Peter was pointing to the middle seat so Harley got it secured there. 

Once everyone was buckled in, Tony put the car in drive and pulled onto the road, feeling weird that Peter was sitting so far from him. 

“What did you guys get up to today?” The sixteen year old asked his little brother since he knew how hard it was for Peter this morning. He definitely felt bad for his dad having to deal with that. 

“Ice cream.” Peter answered. “We went to the ice cream shop near the forest and I had cookies n’Cream and Cotton candy.” 

“What? I love that place. The best thing to get there is Rocky Road with marshmallows on top.” 

And so for the rest of the ride to Morgan’s elementary school, the two of them chatted about ice cream flavours and argued which ones were the best and why. 

Tony loved to listen to them chat. He wanted to ask Harley how school was, like he always did but he would wait until they were in private because he didn’t want to ask in front of Peter, knowing Harley would be telling him everything that happened with the whole Peter being reunited with them again and who was talking about it. 

Tony pulled up in the parking lot of the school and parked the car. “Who’s coming in with me or am I going in alone?” 

He took off his seatbelt and turned around to see if there were any volunteers but no one raised their hand so he jokingly shook his head at his family and left to go grab Morgan, knowing that she was going to be talking nonstop about her day. 

Tony put his sunglasses on and hoped that no one recognized him and tried to start a conversation because he didn’t want that. He watched as all the children started to exit the doors and then he spotted his favorite little girl. 

“Daddy!” Morgan yelled and made a run for his open arms. He lifted her up into the air and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I wanna see Peter!” 

“Hey, what about your daddy? Don’t I get a kiss?” Tony faked his hurt so Morgan pressed a quick kiss to his nose and then was bouncing excitedly in his arms. 

“Peter! Peter! Peter!” Morgan waited all day to see her brother. She hated being away from him so she told everyone that her baby brother was back but he was older now and she drew a lot of pictures of him. 

Tony loved to see her excited to see Peter. “He’s in the car waiting for you.” Morgan responded by screaming excitedly in his ear as he walked with her in his arms towards the car. “How was school?” 

“Good! I told everyone that baby Peter was back but he grew!” Morgan lifted her arms up in the air for emphasis. “And I drew him so many pictures.” 

“He’s gonna love that. What did your teachers say?” Tony was so curious since he knew all the teachers would have asked Morgan about Peter and the situation since she wasn’t old enough to know when not to say certain things. 

“Ummm… they asked how Peter was. And what he was like. And I said he’s so much fun and-and he’s um… like wants his daddy that isn’t you.” Morgan frowned at the end of the sentence and so did Tony. He hated that but it was a working progress. 

“It’s okay, Morg. It’s hard for him right now but he’s so excited to see you.” Tony walked up to their car and opened up the back door, placing Morgan inside. 

Morgan saw Peter and then ran into the back to give him a hug. “Hi. I missed you. Look at the drawings I made for you.” 

Peter watched on curiously as Morgan took her backpack off and pulled out a bunch of pictures that were drawn by marker and crayons. 

“Show him when we get home, Morgan. Get in your car seat.” Tony patted the car seat so Morgan stood up and went to sit in it but then she pouted and pointed to Peter and Harley. 

“I want to sit with Peter and Harley.” 

“Okay.” Tony wasn’t surprised. He climbed into the van and started to unsecure the car seat and then squeezed into the back seats so he could put her car seat on the seat next to Peter so that he was now in the middle. 

He was putting in way too many car seats today. 

“Come Morg.” Tony moved out of the way but it didn’t matter anyways since Morgan was climbing over the seat. “Okay then.” He got out of the car after that and shut the door. 

He never thought that he would be lucky enough to have two kids in car seats together again but here he was. 

He climbed into the front seat and saw that Pepper was taking pictures of their babies in the back seats. “Oldest to youngest. Look at how perfect this picture is.” 

Tony took her phone and looked through the pictures she just took. He zoomed in on Peter’s silly smile and that was all he could focus on. They had their baby back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter!! It was so much fun to write and ahh!! Peter and Tony got some cuddle time! Basically, Peter is terrified of people having fun without him and leaving the house without him because of obvious reasons I mean he wasn’t allowed to do that for seven years so he doesn’t want to live that way anymore and he’s slowly starting to realize that he doesn’t have to live that way anymore and that isn’t his life
> 
> Also, all he’s known is being an only child and having ALL of the attention on him but now he has to share that attention with not one but two other siblings so that’s why as soon as Morgan and Harley leave, he sees his opportunity to get some well overdue cuddles with Tony. Mainly he’s just touch starved right now 
> 
> The van (Aka my dream car): 
> 
> https://www.fcausdriveability.com/assets/img/vehicles/vans-minivans/grand-caravan/vehicle-specs.jpg
> 
> Peter’s car seat: 
> 
> https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/4240c908-2248-4754-8ab7-72efdeef5c00_1.2d887f5b622c52b695b9ddb11a2ba4a3.jpeg?odnWidth=450&odnHeight=450&odnBg=ffffff
> 
> Morgan’s car seat: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71xTu4Zjz4L._SL1500_.jpg


	10. Create yourself a better life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to update at least twice a week for you guys but with work exhausting me, I find it so hard to remember to do that 
> 
> I hope you like this chapter:))

The days seemed to be getting worse and worse. 

Tony thought the adjustment process was going to be a lot faster than it was but that wasn’t the case. It was taking a toll on everyone, including Peter who was crying or begging for them to take him back to Steve. 

It made Tony sick but he didn’t know where it was coming from. Peter had been fine and then, all of the sudden he wasn’t. 

Both parents knew that Peter hadn’t been sleeping recently. He would try to stay awake for hours past his bedtime and then once he would fall asleep, it would only be for an hour or two before he was waking up again and waking Tony and Pepper up in the process. 

It had gotten to the point where they were actually taking turns to see who would be getting up next to put the boy back to sleep. Tony went almost every time though since he was always able to get him back into bed and asleep quicker. 

Now, here they were, it was time to get Morgan into bed and then shortly after that it would be time to get Peter into bed although he never once went to bed at that time. 

Peter was causing hell in the Stark household which was causing Morgan to take after him and copy the current temper tantrum he was having. 

“Morgan, enough. Do not copy Peter because he is being naughty.” Pepper warned her daughter who completely ignored her and continued to bang her pony doll on the floor in the hallway while Peter was throwing all the shoes down the hallway. 

Harley couldn’t take the crying and screaming anymore so he took Asier for a walk and Tony wished so badly he could have joined his son. It was better than the headache that was strongly coming on. 

Tony leaned against the kitchen frame and looked at Pepper who was already looking at him. “What do we do? Should we call Natasha?” 

Tony thought about it before pushing the idea down. “No. Then she’ll leave and Peter will be mad she didn’t take him with her.” 

“... alright. So what do we do?” She asked, completely clueless. 

So was Tony. He knew that the two of them were working off of each other and so long as they were together, the tantrums weren’t going to stop anytime soon. 

“So, I’m gonna take Morgan upstairs and get her into bed and then you can watch Peter before I come down and get him. Sound good?” Tony asked her to clarify. It wasn’t the best plan but hopefully they could get both kids settled down and into bed in the next hour. 

“Yeah. Good luck.” 

“You too.” Tony replied and walked over to Morgan, grabbing her toy out of her hands and throwing it into the living room then lifting her up and carrying now a screaming Morgan upstairs. 

He passed by Peter who froze to look up at him so Tony eyed him then continued to carry Morgan upstairs. He walked into her bedroom and shut her door then placed her onto the bed. “Do you gotta go potty before you sleep?” 

“No!” Morgan screamed and made a run for it at the door again but Tony grabbed her. He pulled her shirt off to get her pyjama shirt on and then did the same with her pants, getting a few kicks to the face in the process. 

Once she was in her pyjamas, Tony put her back on the bed and walked over to the window to shut the curtains. He then turned on her nightlight that put a bunch of stars up on the ceiling and played light music. 

“I’m not sleeping! I’m not sleeping.” She said, shaking her head at her dad who gently hushed her. He picked her up to lie her down and covered her face with the blankets so he could rub his hand over the blankets which helped to get her relaxed. 

After about ten minutes, Tony pulled the blankets off her face and continued the action for another ten minutes just to make sure. 

When he got up, he made sure to go as slowly as possible to not wake her. He shut her door behind him but he didn’t hear Peter so maybe Pepper got him to be quiet. 

He was wrong. 

As he walked down the stairs some more, he could hear Peter whimpering about something but he wasn’t at the bottom of the stairs anymore. He walked towards the backdoor and found Peter weakly banging on the glass door to be let out like their dog. 

“Peter.” Tony said, causing Peter to turn around and look at him. “It’s time for bed.” 

Peter shook his head and went to go stand up but he tripped on the curtains so he attempted to crawl away from Tony which made it very easy for Tony to grab a hold of him. 

“Nooo! Let me go!” Peter screamed and arched his back in Tony’s arms but he was used to it all by now. He knew how to hold squirming kids. Thankfully Morgan kept his skills up to date. 

Pepper bumped into him in the hallway but they didn’t say anything as they passed by. 

Once Tony got Peter upstairs, he shut his bedroom door and placed Peter onto his bed, much like he had done to Morgan. Actually, it was going to be the same routine he would be following. 

Peter got off the bed to run to the door but Tony beat him to it. “Am I picking out your pyjamas or are you?” 

Peter smacked his leg so Tony took that as his answer to get the pyjamas out himself. Once he picked them out, he turned to Peter again. “Are you going to put your pyjamas on by yourself or am I going to do it?” 

Peter tried to get to the door again but Tony was blocking it with his foot. He pulled off Peter’s shirt and wrestled him into his pyjama shirt and then did what he did with Morgan, tugging off the rest of his clothes and trying to get his pyjama pants on but Peter was putting up one hell of a fight. 

The door was being opened which caused both of them to freeze and turn around to see who it was but it was only Pepper. Tony stood up, lifting Peter onto the bed so he would stop trying to crawl away but he eventually got his pyjama pants on. 

“Okay. Now you’re ready for bed. Can you shut the curtains and turn the closet light on, Pep?” Tony asked her and then grabbed Peter to lay him down but then the crying was starting again but this cry was a cry of exhaustion. 

He sat down on the bed and tried to get Peter to stop moving so much but it wasn’t working. He felt the bed dip behind him so he turned and saw Pepper with one of Morgan’s water bottles in her hand. 

“It’s warm milk. It used to help him before.” Pepper reached over and handed it to Peter who reached out for it and then immediately put it into his mouth to start drinking it. “Is it yummy?” 

Peter nodded his head at her and lifted one arm that wasn’t holding onto the bottle to twurl his curls on his fingers. 

Tony watched him, grateful for the silent that followed and just the sound of Peter drinking. He ran a hand over his forehead and smiled. “Do you need to go pott- pee before bed?” 

Peter just stared at him so Tony took that as a no. He leaned against Pepper. “It’s working. How did you know?” 

“From experience.” Pepper whispered back into his ear while Peter stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. 

It took a lot longer for Peter to fall asleep than it did with Morgan but that was to be expected. He had kicked one of his legs out of the blanket but they left him like that in fear of waking him up. After both kissing his forehead, the two of them left his bedroom, leaving it open a crack. 

Two kids to sleep. No more to go. Harley was old enough to put himself to sleep with zero problems. 

.  
.  
.

Peter woke up two hours later. 

He rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up on his arms then sat up to look around the room. 

It was empty but there was a light coming from the hallway which meant that people were still awake. He picked up the water bottle that had milk in it and took a sip but the milk was cold now so he threw it onto the floor and slid out of bed. 

As he stood in the hallway, he debated if he should go downstairs to see who was up but then he looked in the other direction at Morgan’s bedroom door so he slowly walked over to it and opened it up, seeing that it was pitch black besides for little stars on her ceiling. 

He looked up at the stars for a few seconds, mesmerized by them before he was walking over to her bed and shaking her awake. “Morgan. Wake up. Wake up, Morgan.” 

She groaned and rolled over on the bed and rubbed at her eyes. When she opened them, they landed on Peter and a huge smile was plastered on her face. 

“Petey. Come sleep with me.” Morgan lifted the blankets up to let Peter in but Peter shook his head. 

“No. Let’s go downstairs. We’ll sneak down.” Peter whispered and pulled the blankets back so he could help her get out of the bed faster. 

“Mommy’s gonna get mad at us though.” Morgan whispered to him but followed him out of her bedroom anyways. 

“Uh Uh. Just be quiet. Why are you walking so loudly?” Peter turned around to say to her but she bumped into him, causing him to stumble a bit. 

Morgan glared up at him. “I’m not. I’m just walking.” 

“Well… you walk like an elephant so stop it.” Peter told her and continued to make his way down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he looked up at Morgan who was a few steps behind him. He put his finger over his mouth in the universal sign for ‘shh’. 

She gave him a sharp nod and continued down the stairs. When Peter saw that the coast was clear, he walked slowly towards the kitchen but froze when Tony was standing there and looking at him. 

Peter leaned up against the doorframe and then Morgan was running out from behind him and running towards the fridge. 

“No, both of you back in bed.” Tony pulled Morgan away from the fridge and stood in front of it. 

“Why are you both up?” Pepper asked, disappointment strong in her voice. Peter looked over at her but didn’t answer as he slowly inched his way towards the living room to watch some late night tv. 

Morgan pointed at Peter. “Petey woke me up so we could eat!” 

Peter snapped his head towards her. “No. I didn’t.” He said. “I woke her up to watch tv.” 

“No one is eating or watching tv tonight so let’s go back up to bed.” Tony grabbed Morgan’s arm and went to go grab Peter’s arm but he made a dash for it down the hall so Pepper went after him. 

Pepper may not be as strong as Tony when it comes to picking them up during a tantrum and carrying them off but she could still do it so that’s exactly what she was going to do. 

She saw Tony go upstairs with Morgan and then saw Peter trying to crawl under a chair so she grabbed his legs and pulled him out. “It is bedtime, Peter. I’m not playing with you.” 

Peter threw his head back and tried to scream as loud as he could but Pepper put her hand over his mouth to stop him before they got the police called on them. “Stop it- ow.” Pepper pulled her hand away when Peter bit her so she yanked him onto his feet and started pulling him up the stairs. 

“No! Noooo!” He grabbed onto the railing so she couldn’t bring him up anymore but she was a lot stronger than him so he did not win that battle. His next option was to kick and cry so that’s exactly what he did all the way to his bedroom. 

Pepper placed Peter onto the ground and stood in front of the door to try and calm herself down some so she could deal with the situation. 

She watched him for a few minutes as he cried on the floor and then he was scooting over to the water bottle and handing it up to her. “I need more.” 

Pepper’s whole demeanor changed. A soft look appeared on her face as she stepped forward to grab the bottle from him. “Alright. I’ll go get you some more but then you have to sleep.” 

Peter watched Pepper open the door and leave the bedroom so he crawled to his doorway and saw her leave his sight. He looked in both directions to see if he could see anyone and when he didn’t, he stood up and tried to make a run for the front door so he could leave. 

He didn’t know how the locks worked so he unlocked all the ones he knew how but he couldn’t reach the top ones. In a panic, he turned around but no one was there so he climbed up on the side table so he could reach the top and then he jumped off and went to open the door. 

As soon as the door was opened, a loud alarm started to go off, ringing throughout the house. 

Peter took off running outside, having no idea where he was going but it was dark out and he was immediately regretting it but he didn’t want to turn around now. 

Pepper dropped the milk carton after hearing the alarm going off, letting them know that the front door had been opened. She ran towards it as she yelled for her husband. “Tony! Tony!” 

Tony came barreling down the stairs with his heart beating in his throat. He ran outside with Pepper who was already on the lawn. “Peter?” He asked her but he already knew it was since he was putting Morgan to sleep and Harley wouldn’t have snuck out like that. 

She took off in one direction and he took off in the other. 

As he ran down the dark, cold street and yelling for Peter, all that was running through his mind was that this moment was feeling all too familiar for his liking. 

The only difference was that this time Peter had run away on purpose but that didn’t mean that he still couldn’t be kidnapped. Again. 

That had Tony’s heart racing even faster. He slowed down to try and look on people’s lawns or for any cars driving by but they lived on a fairly quiet street. 

Tony stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath when he heard whimpering so he looked over and walked towards the front lawn of some random house but he spotted Peter sitting there with his legs stretched out in front of him. 

Tony was torn between wanting to scream at him for doing what he did and hugging him but he chose to hug his baby because he was so fucking scared. 

“Peter. What were you thinking? Come here, baby.” Tony kneeled down and held his arms out for Peter who immediately melted into him and sobbed loudly. 

“I-I’m-I’m s-s-sorry! I’m s-sorry. I don-” Peter broke off in sobs so Tony just hugged him and rubbed at his back. The grass was damp and cold and he just wanted to go home so he stood up with Peter in his arms and started walking in the direction of their house again. 

He rubbed Peter’s back the whole way home and let him cry loudly into his ear but on the way back, they bumped into Pepper who spotted them, paused then ran towards them. 

“Oh my god.” She covered her mouth and cried. “Peter. My baby. How-don’t you ever do that again. Ever.” 

The three of them walked back home and into the warm house. The alarm was shut off and Harley was standing at the door with a crying Morgan on his hip and his phone in his hand, getting ready to dial 911. 

His face relaxed at seeing Peter in his dad’s arms so he bounced Morgan a bit so she could look up and see that Peter was okay. 

Morgan cried and reached for Peter as they walked into the house and shut the door behind them, locking it. Tony made a mental note to get better childproof locks and make them higher up. On all the doors and windows. 

Tony carried Peter upstairs into their bathroom and sat him on the bathroom counter. He stood in front of him with Pepper standing off to the side and crying. Tony was close to crying as well. 

“Peter. What you did tonight was extremely, extremely dangerous and it will not be happening ever again. Do you understand me?” Tony couldn’t give cuddles right now. He had to be firm and get his point across. 

Peter continued to cry loudly but he nodded his head. “I-I’m sorry!” 

“That was so scary for us, Peter.” Pepper told him, moving to stand next to Tony. “Your dad and I already lost you once, we will not lose you again and you will never ever do that again.” 

Peter nodded his head again. “I’m sorry!” 

Tony moved to grab a wet washcloth so he could wash the bottom of Peter’s feet while Pepper went to get him clean pyjama pants bottoms since his were all wet and muddy now. 

Once his feet were clean, Tony lifted him up and stood him on the floor then tugged his pyjama pants down and helped him step out of it. He took the clean ones from Pepper and helped Peter get those on and then stood up and took his hand to take him back to bed. Again. 

As soon as Peter was getting close to his bedroom, he started freaking out and trying to get away. “No! I don’ want to. Noooo!” 

Tony picked him up the rest of the way and placed him back onto his bed. He turned around and Pepper wasn’t there but he didn’t blame her. 

“Do you know what time it is?” Tony asked him. 

Peter wiped at his eyes but he didn’t stop crying. “L-late!” 

“Yes. It is very late and it’s time for you to go to bed.” Tony lifted his legs up to get them under the blankets but Peter started kicking so Tony gave up. “Alright. You’re going to stay here and cry yourself to sleep tonight.” 

He couldn’t do it. 

Peter was draining everything from him. Tony was exhausted and Peter was making it so much harder for him. 

He went downstairs and threw himself onto the couch, sighing loudly and putting his head in his hands. 

He didn’t know how long he was sitting like that for, seconds maybe, but then there was a loud continuous banging sound coming from upstairs. 

Tony slowly made his way over to the bottom of the stairs when he realized that the banging sound was coming from Peter opening up his bedroom door, slamming it then opening it again and repeating the process over and over again. 

He went up the stairs and saw what Peter was doing so when Peter opened it and went to slam it again, he grabbed the door and pushed his way into the room, kneeling down so he was at Peter’s height and grabbing his arm. 

“Stop. It. Right now.” He warned in a deep voice and let go of Peter who threw himself onto the floor and started crying again. 

Tony stood up just as Pepper walked over. “He’s keeping Morgan up. She can’t sleep and is crying in Harley’s room.” 

Tony slowly shut Peter’s bedroom door because he didn’t know what to do but maybe Peter just needed alone time. Definitely not though. 

The door was being ripped open seconds later with Peter choking on his sobs. “I just… I just want a hug! It’s-it’s been six days since-since I had a h-hug and kiss goodnight! I just wan’ a hug!” 

That was enough to break both Tony and Pepper at the same time. 

They went from being pissed off and wanting to scream at Peter to their hearts melting and breaking at the same time for their child and wanting to hold him. 

Tony wasted no time in walking over to Peter and lifting him into his arms to rock him side to side. As much as he hated to admit it but Peter was right. 

They had been walking on eggshells around him, being too scared to hug him properly or kiss him goodnight while he was awake in fear of him freaking out on them when all Peter had been dying for was some love and cuddles. 

They had just been giving him love after he had fallen asleep. 

Now that they heard Peter say it, they weren’t going to stop. 

Tony carried Peter into his bedroom and sat on his bed, cradling him in his lap and leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead. Peter had calmed down considerably and was only making soft whimpering sounds now. 

Pepper was sitting next to Tony and brushing the curls off of Peter’s forehead then leaning down to kiss him there as well. 

Peter was looking over at Pepper and went to reach out but stopped. “Milk.” 

Both adults looked at each other. Peter used to ask for her milk the exact same way when he was a baby. She cupped his cheek and then stood up to finish filling the water bottle. “I’ll go get some.” 

While she was gone, Tony got Peter comfortable under his blankets. He grabbed his baby blanket and put it under his nose which he immediately grabbed and looked at the door, waiting for Pepper to arrive. 

Tony laid down next to him and combed his fingers through his baby’s hair. When Pepper arrived, Peter was making grabby hands for the milk bottle which both parents smiled at. 

Peter put it in his mouth and lifted his other arm up to touch Tony’s face, examining it while he drank and slowly started to fall asleep. 

Both Tony and Pepper stayed with him until he drifted into unconsciousness and hopefully stayed there for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter! I feel like it was heart breaking and heart melting at the same time, I can’t decide haha! 
> 
> Peter’s, well, Morgan’s water bottle: 
> 
> https://www.caspersclimbingshop.com/2654-tm_thickbox_default/eddykidsinsulated.jpg


	11. You fill my head with pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I love this chapter so muchhhh!! I hope you guys do too:) 
> 
> Enjoy

Tony could not believe what he was hearing. 

Natasha had called them during one evening just after they were finishing up with dinner. Tony and Pepper both had to leave the kids with Harley so they could talk to Natasha in their bedroom where they were sure Peter couldn’t hear them. 

Tony wasn’t believing it. 

He had to hear it again. “I just- do you wanna say that one more time?” 

Pepper held Tony’s arm firmly in hers as they listened to Natasha give the news to them one more time. “Steve Rogers was found and is being taken into custody right now.” 

Tony felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They didn’t have to worry about Peter’s kidnapper finding them but he also now worried about what this was going to mean for them. 

“What now? I mean… I don’t know what happens now.” Tony knew there was going to be court date after court date in which they would want to involve Peter and have him sit on the stand but Tony wasn’t going to allow that. 

They were moving on. They were supposed to be healing. 

“Well,” Natasha began. “right now he is being taken in for questioning and will be placed in a holding cell until further notice.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper. He didn’t know what was running through her mind. 

“Do you know anything else? He’s been on the run for over two weeks, they can’t possibly ask him all the questions in one night.” Pepper asked Natasha and ran a hand over her face, wishing they would just lock that man up forever. 

“I wish I knew but right now we just have to wait and see what happens.” Tony could tell that Natasha was trying to keep them calm and not demand to have Rogers locked up but it was doing little to help. 

“Okay so what,” Tony stood up and began pacing around the bedroom. It was seven on a Friday night, there was no way they could keep this from Peter all weekend since they were going to be making phone calls left right and center. “Do we tell Peter? Do we wait?” 

“No. Not yet. I will give you guys a call first thing tomorrow morning to see if any changes and where to go from there but right now, do not tell him.” Natasha ordered them. “Don’t even tell Harley. If Peter finds out, he’s going to want to see Steve so don’t.” 

That hurt to hear. It had been over two weeks yet they made no process with Peter and him asking for his dad. Natasha had told them over and over again that it will take time but it was taking a long time. 

Tony supposed that they did make a bit of slow progress since Peter had stopped trying to correct them when they refer to themselves as his parents as well as the fact that he often refers to Steve as Steve and not dad. 

“Okay. We don’t tell him but we will have to eventually either way and that is not going to be fun.” Pepper admitted and let out a sigh. She didn’t even want to think about that because all she pictured was all their progress being flushed down the drain. 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’ll call you guys tomorrow morning. Have a good night.” 

The phone went silent and the two of them continued to sit there without saying a word. Tony hated this. 

Why couldn’t they catch a break? It was always one thing after the next. 

Part of him wanted to never tell Peter. To keep him hidden from all of this for his whole life so he didn’t have to worry about it but he knew that wasn’t fair. Peter didn’t deserve to be lied to again, not about this. 

Pepper picked the phone up and put it on the dresser. “I’m Uh, I’m gonna go check on them.” 

Tony stayed silent. 

He didn’t want to do this. He was having so many mixed emotions about everything. Ever since they got Peter back, he had wanted his kidnapper to be found so he could stop being so paranoid every time he took Peter out of the house but now here he was, with the information that Rogers was found but he didn’t want it. 

Part of him wanted to take his family and just run away. 

Downstairs, Pepper didn’t see her kids anywhere so she went outside and found them swimming in the pool with their clothes on. 

She left for ten minutes and she came back to this. Morgan and Peter had completely stripped down to their underwear and Harley had taken off his shirt. 

“I can see what you guys get up to when your dad and I are gone.” Pepper shook her head fondly at the three of them and walked to the edge of the pool. 

“It was Harley’s idea!” Morgan yelled and then got splashed by Harley. 

Pepper walked over to Peter who was sitting on the steps of the pool up to his belly button but he wasn’t getting in. “Why don’t you wanna go in, Peter?” 

Peter smiled up at her and shrugged. “I can’t swim.” 

“Harley knows how and he’s in there with you.” Pepper walked into the pool so she could stand on the steps. 

Peter just shrugged again and then was looking over at Tony who looked pissed but once he saw the scene in front of him, a smile spread across his face. “This looks like fun. What’re you guys doing?” 

“Swimming with our clothes on.” Peter said to him and stood up to walk more towards the edge of the pool. “Are you coming in?” 

Tony thought about what tomorrow would bring. Whether it was good or bad, Peter would always be his son and he was not going to let him go ever again. 

“Obviously. How could I pass on an opportunity like this.” Tony took his shirt off and walked over to the deep end to jump in which had everyone laughing at him. 

Tony swam over to the shallow end where Pepper and Peter were standing but not for long. “Come in, Pep. You can’t be the only one missing out.” 

“Oh no way.” She shook her head and looked over at Peter who was grinning at her. 

Tony then grabbed onto her hands and pulled her in with him. All the kids started laughing at what their dad just did to their mom and even Pepper came up and was laughing. 

It was Peter’s turn now and Tony knew that Harley had tried to get him in the water without a life jacket but he couldn’t. Tony would not give up on it. Peter may be a stubborn Stark but he was the first Stark so Tony knew he would win. 

He turned to Peter and looked at him but Peter was shaking his head. “Your hair isn’t even wet. Come in and join the fun.” 

Peter grabbed onto the edge and shook his head with a tiny smile on his lips. “No. I’ll drown.” 

“No, you won’t. I promise we won’t let you drown.” Tony moved closer to Peter but he let out a scream and ran out of the pool. “Peter, come. You can’t watch from the sidelines anymore.” 

Morgan swam over to the edge and put her chin up. “The first jump is always the hardest, Petey.” 

Peter looked like he was debating it but he shook his head in the end so Tony sighed. New approach. 

“Come here to the edge and jump in. I’ll catch you.” Tony swam until he reached his chest in the water. He patted the edge which had Peter coming a little bit closer. “It’s not scary if we’re all here.” 

“Well… you won’t catch me and then I’ll get sucked to the bottom.” Peter squatted down at the edge and tried to imagine all the worst outcomes that he had been told. 

“That’s nonsense and won’t happen. I’ll catch you and your head won’t even go under if you don’t want.” Tony knew that everyone was waiting patiently for Peter to jump in so they were all silent around him. 

“Mmm… can I touch the bottom?” Peter asked since it looked really deep. 

“No. Not here but you don’t need to worry about that.” Tony lifted his arms up, hoping that Peter would finally jump in and when Peter lifted his arms out to him, Tony couldn’t have been happier in that moment. 

Peter just leaned forward once he felt that Tony caught him. His bottom half was in the water but he didn’t want to go under and just as he promised, Tony didn’t put him under. 

“Woah! Nice job, Peter! I knew you could do it.” Harley yelled from the deep end of the pool. Peter looked over at him and couldn’t stop the huge smile from spreading across his face. 

“I’m so proud of you, baby.” Pepper swam over to him to rub his back which made him feel really proud. 

“Yay! Petey did it! I told you, Petey!” Morgan cheered then climbed up on one of the pool floaters. 

Peter put his hand onto Tony’s back to support himself but Tony was doing all the heavy lifting although he didn’t imagine he would be that heavy in the water. 

Tony bounced him a bit in his arms and smiled over at his kid. “I knew you could do it. Now you’re in the water with us and not missing out on anything.” 

Peter leaned his head against Tony’s shoulder in a silent thank you. He hated being left out of things but now Tony was showing him that he didn’t have to live life that way. 

Tony hoisted him up a bit more and spun around to look at Pepper who was already watching the scene unfold. 

Peter had spotted Morgan on a pool float that looked like you could rock on it and he wanted on as well. “It looks like a rocking horse in the water.” Peter observed and lifted his head up so Tony could take him over there. 

“Yeah! Peter comes on!” Morgan cheered and moved up a bit so Peter could fit on. 

“Okay, he’s coming.” Tony walked over to the pool float and lifted Peter up until he was on it. 

“Maybe face him the other way, Tony.” Pepper would have preferred so Peter had something to hold onto but Tony waved her off. 

Peter tried to turn around to look at the horses head but he almost lost his balance so he stopped. “Do you wanna see something cool?” 

“Yeah.” Peter replied and waited for Morgan to show him but then she started rocking the horse and since Peter was unprepared, he lost his balance and fell face first into the water but before he knew it, hands were grabbing him and lifting him back above the water. 

Tony was there to push his now wet hair out of his face and reassure him. “You’re okay. Do you wanna go back on?” 

When Tony went to put Peter back on, he started to scream because he wanted out of the water now. He almost drowned! “No! I need my life jacket.” 

“No you don’t. We’re all here.” Tony didn’t mind Peter wearing one if it was just Harley with him but there was no need right now and he didn’t want to baby Peter as much as he already had been. 

He knows that him and Pepper are babying him a bit but they can’t help that. They went way too long without Peter. 

“Yes.” Peter tried to reach out for nothing in particular. 

“On you go. Morgan, don’t rock it this time.” Tony ignored Peter’s protests and put him back onto the horse. It didn’t take long for Peter to stop trying to get off and for the smile to appear back on his face again. 

It would all be worth it no matter what happened tomorrow. 

.  
.  
.

Tony was the most anxious he had ever been. 

Actually, the most anxious he had ever been was four years after Peter had been kidnapped, making him seven and a dead body of a boy around that age had washed up on the shore. 

Having no idea what Peter would have looked like at that point, they had to wait for an autopsy and a DNA test to be done so they could prove it wasn’t him. 

That had been the most anxious Tony had ever been in his whole life. 

Both parents had woken up at six in the morning because neither of them could sleep but also because they were waiting for a call from Natasha telling them what was going on. 

It was almost eight and still nothing. Peter and Morgan would be waking up at any minute since for some reason those two didn’t understand what a weekend was and that they had to sleep in. 

Harley wouldn’t be up for another three hours at most so they couldn’t count on him watching the kids while they went outside to talk. 

So by the time there were footsteps coming down the stairs, both of them mentally cursed. By the slowness and the footsteps, they knew it was Peter who was always extra cuddly in the mornings so Tony was looking forward to seeing him. Like he always was. 

Peter stopped by the steps that entered the kitchen and he looked around while rubbing at his eyes. He then spotted Tony and walked over to lean against his side, letting out a yawn in the process. 

Aiser ran to his food bowl for his breakfast after walking down with Peter like he did every morning. 

Over the past week, Tony had become used to the routine that had developed between the two of them. They were getting closer but it was a very slow process. 

Tony tucked him closer against his side as he spoke. “What do you want for breakfast?” 

Peter was about to answer but then there was banging coming from upstairs so they all waited for Morgan to make an appearance and when she did, she immediately climbed up on the kitchen stool and tossed her teddy bear on the table. 

“Breakfast time, mommy! This girl hungry!” Both adults bursted out laughing at her but she just sat there with a serious look on her face. 

After Pepper stopped laughing and caught her breath a bit, she spoke. “Yes my princess. What would you like?” 

The phone still didn’t ring by the time the food was cooked and eaten so Tony wanted to send them upstairs to get Morgan dressed but Tony didn’t want to put that responsibility onto Peter even though Morgan could get dressed by herself and it was Peter that probably needed the help since he was always getting distracted over one thing or the other while he was halfway dressed. 

“Come guys. Mommy and I are gonna go sit outside for a few minutes and talk on the phone but you guys stay here.” Tony turned the tv on and waited for his ducklings to follow him over. 

Peter walked up to him with his interest peaked. “Who are you calling?” 

That was one of the reasons why they always had to sneak away from Peter whenever they spoke to Natasha, although when she came the last two times, Peter hadn’t begged her to take him with her. 

“Just some boring stuff. Do you want me to put on Frozen or something else?” Tony asked, trying to change the subject but it wasn’t working. 

“Are you gonna be on the phone with them for awhile?” Peter asked, trying to get Tony to say who it was. 

Before Tony could reply, Morgan was jumping on the couch. “Frozen!” 

Peter turned to her. “No. I get to pick this time because you picked last time.” 

Well, at least his mind was off the phone call now. “You guys decide. We’ll be in the back if you need us.” Tony walked outside and shut the door behind him, grateful for the peace and quiet. At least Harley would be waking up soon. 

“She’s on the phone.” Pepper said and then put it on speaker on the table. “Okay Natasha. He’s here.” 

Tony felt his palms start to sweat. He sat down and waited to hear what Natasha was about to say. “Alright. So, as you guys know, Steve Rogers was taken into custody yesterday. Some detectives have spoken to him, asked him questions about Peter, their life together, why he did it. They are waiting for a Psychiatric doctor to come in and evaluate him to determine whether or not he is mentally ill.” 

“He obviously fucking is. I can tell you that with my damn clown degree.” Tony shot at her but he wasn’t upset at her, just the ridiculousness of the whole situation. 

“By law, it needs to be determined by a specialized doctor.” Natasha said, not taking it personally from Tony. She was quiet for a few moments after that so Pepper knew something was wrong. 

“What aren’t you telling us?” She asked, scared of the answer. 

“Well… Steve Rogers is refusing to speak to anyone. He wants to see Peter.” 

Tony smacked his hand on the table and stood up. He wanted to scream. No way. No fucking way. 

“He can’t see Peter. We won’t let him.” Pepper spoke. There was no way they would let that happen. 

“I know. I’m on your side but it isn’t up to you, it’s up to Peter. He has the say. If he wants to see Rogers, he has the right to see him. If he doesn’t, he goes nowhere near him.” Natasha explained to them but they still fucking hated that idea. 

“Peter has been asking for that man since the day he got here. You really think he’s going to all of the sudden say he doesn’t want to see him.” Tony sat back down rather roughly. “Fucking Stockholm syndrome.” 

“Peter’s ten. He’s a minor. Can’t we automatically say no to this and make the choice ourselves?” Pepper asked, making a really good point that went way over Tony’s head. 

“Not for this situation. The judge is going to side with what the child wants.” Natasha said, shattering their hopes. 

“But what Peter wants isn’t what he needs. This’ll be fucking torment for him and he doesn’t even know it. He’s a child. He doesn’t know what he wants.” Tony hated this. He hated this man. 

“I know, Tony. I am on your side but I don’t have any say in this. The judge is making the calls.” 

Tony looked at Pepper and shook his head in disbelief. “So the judge wants our healing child to see his kidnapper again?” 

“The judge wants Peter to have a choice. You will tell Peter the situation and ask him what he wants to do. Either way, he has to come to the courthouse today because the judge wants to hear his statement and ask him a few questions. Which you guys are allowed in the room for since he is a minor.” Natasha was saying to them but it was going way over Tony’s head. He knew what Peter was going to say. He just knew it and that hurt him so fucking much. 

“So basically we don’t have a choice in this?” Pepper asked, already knowing the answer. 

“No. I’m sorry.” Natasha said regretfully. “If you want, I can come and we can tell him together?” 

“No. It’s fine. We’ll tell him.” Tony just wanted to get it over with. He knew Peter was going to break his heart. 

“Okay. Give me a call to let me know. I’ll see you guys at the courthouse later today.” With that, Natasha hung up, leaving the parents sitting there in silence once again. 

“Okay,” Pepper spoke after a few minutes of nothing. “We have to focus on the positive. We have Peter. We know he’s alive and that he’s okay.” 

That did help Tony feel better. He always reminded himself of that whenever he was feeling down. 

Pepper continued. “I’ll go get him and then we’ll tell him. I know- I know this will be hard but we’re leaving with the same amount of people in the car that we arrived with this time.” 

Tony wasn’t going to think about that day again. He watched Pepper get up to go inside. 

Inside, Peter was sitting on the ottoman and watching some cartoon that Morgan had on. Harley was sitting on the couch eating a yogurt but he was immediately alerted once he saw his mom's face. 

“Peter, come outside for a few minutes because your dad and I want to talk to you.” Pepper said, gaining Peter’s attention. 

Harley sat you straighter and started panicking. “What’s going on, mom? Mom?” 

She just gave him a firm look and then took Peter outside. “Sit down, baby.” 

Peter was nervous. He didn’t know what was going on but judging by the look on their faces and the tension, it was not good. “What is it?” 

“Well, Peter,” Tony began. “Your mom and I love you so so much. The day that you were taken from us was the worst day of our lives and when you left, part of us did too. Then, when we found out that you were alive and okay, that part we lost was slowly being put back together by you and now, it’s important for you to have a choice. We want you to make your own choices because those are important.” 

Peter looked confused but he didn’t say anything. 

“So…” Tony continued but it was too hard to say. He didn’t want to say it. “Your kidnapper was found. Steve Rogers and-” 

A huge smile spread across Peter’s face and that shattered both patents’ hearts. “My dad? They found my dad?! Where is he? Does he want to see me?” 

Tony shook his head and tried to get Peter to calm down so he could finish. “Peter, we have talked about this. He is not your father and never will be.” 

Peter froze and looked at Tony. “No. He is.” 

Tony shook his head but he wasn’t about to have this talk again. “It’s very important for you to make this choice yourself, Peter. Do you want to see him?” 

Peter was nodding his head as if they had just told him he could eat candy for every meal. “Yes! Yes yes yes, I want to! Yes! When can I see him? I want to see him now.” 

Peter was jumping out of his chair and running towards the back door to go inside. Pepper and Tony just stared at him and then looked away. They couldn’t feel anything. All they felt was emptiness. 

As much as they wanted to say no to Peter and keep him home, they weren’t Steve. They would let Peter have what he wants even if they didn’t agree with it. They would never become Steve Rogers. 

Tony stood up. “Yep. Alright. Go get dressed then, Peter.” 

Peter booked it inside the house faster than Tony had ever seen him move. 

He looked back at Pepper who was just staring ahead with an empty look on her face. Tony left her and walked inside the house, seeing both Harley and Morgan staring at him. 

“Are we getting ice cream now?” Morgan asked since Peter always got that excited for ice cream. 

Tony shook his head but Harley was following him. “Dad, what’s going on?” 

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rogers wants to see Peter and Peter wants to see him so that’s what’s going on, Harley.” 

“What? They found him? When? How long did you know and why didn’t you tell me anything?” Harley sounded hurt but it was masked by his anger. “I know you still think I’m a kid but I’m not. I’m not Morgan or Peter. I’m old enough to be included in these things.” 

Tony shook his head and started walking down the hallway so he could change into a suit. “No, Harley. As old as you may think you are, you’re not. You are a child and it’s none of your concern to be included in what your mom and I know.” 

“Dad, I’m an adult-” 

“Fine. If you want to be an adult then put on a happy face and watch your sister until we get back.” Tony snapped at him and turned around to go upstairs. 

He walked into his bedroom and sat on the bed. He didn’t want to do this. Fuck. 

Peter was walking into the bedroom a few minutes later with a huge smile on his face. If only he were old enough to know how much he was hurting his mom and dad, Tony thought. 

He grabbed Peter’s hand and tugged him forward. “Oh baby. I love you so much. That’s why I’m letting this happen.” 

Peter tried to pull away from him weakly. “I wanna go now.” 

“That’s what will always separate the two of us, Pete.” Tony was referring to himself and Steve but it went way over Peter’s head. The difference was that Tony loved Peter enough to give him a choice and Steve only cared about his own selfish greed to take everything away from Peter. 

He let go of his child and stood up to get changed. Pepper walked into the room as Peter excitedly ran out to go get his shoes on. 

He got his shoes on, smiling when he did the laces up himself and then ran into the living room to tell Harley and Morgan the good news. “I get to go see my dad now.” 

Morgan looked up from where she was playing with her toys and her eyes immediately filled up with tears so she ran over to Peter to wrap her arms around him. “I don’t want you to go! Don’t leave us, Petey!” 

Peter patted her back, not liking how she was reacting. 

Harley walked over to them after Peter lost his balance and fell onto the carpet, landing on his butt. Harley kneeled down and stared at him. 

“I’m going to see um, my daddy now.” Peter told him, trying to push Morgan off of him. 

“Is this really what you want? You really want to leave Morgan and I?” 

Peter frowned. He would miss them but… 

“I mean, you have so much with us. You have a mom now. A dad that really loves you.” Harley added, knowing that so much was running through his little brother's mind. 

“My dad does really love me.” Peter told him but he wasn’t confident now. 

“Steve? That’s not love, Peter. That’s manipulation.” 

Peter went to go say something back but then Tony was walking into the living room so Peter crawled out from under Morgan and went over to his side. 

“Grandma and Grandpa will be coming here at six. We probably won’t be back until then so if you need anything, Mrs. Barton next door will come over and if you really need something, call mom or me.” Tony told Harley and looked at Morgan breaking down on the floor over her brother leaving. 

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s hand to look up at him. “Grandma and Grandpa?” 

“Yeah. Mommy’s parents. Uh, and you won’t remember but they helped out a lot when you were born.” Tony told Peter and started walking towards the door but Peter followed him, wanting to know more. 

“I’ve never had a Grandma and Grandpa before.” Peter told him. Part of him wanted to stay to meet them. He always wondered what it was like to have some. He always wondered what it was like to have so much. 

Tony leaned down to look at Peter’s face. “You’ve always had grandparents, Peter. You were just lied to your whole life.” 

Peter frowned. He wanted to stay and meet them, suddenly feeling less excited to go and see the man who had taken so much away from him. 

Pepper walked down the stairs wearing a beige blouse and skirt, looking extremely professional. Peter looked over at Tony and realized for the first time that he was wearing a suit. He didn’t want to go anymore. 

He slowly walked up the stairs and looked behind him at Tony and Pepper. “Come, Peter. It’s time to go.” 

Peter shook his head and saw the slight hope in Tony’s eyes. “You don’t want to go?” 

“I…” Peter shut his mouth. 

“What, baby?” Pepper asked him and so Peter looked between the two of them for a few seconds before speaking.

“I wanna meet my Grandma and Grandpa.” Peter admitted, not knowing why both of their faces were lighting up. 

Tony sat on the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Peter. “They want to see you again so badly.” 

Peter didn’t say anything but he turned around to start slowly crawling back up the stairs and Tony didn’t want to ask the next question that they both had to know so as if Pepper read his mind, she was asking the question. 

“Do you still want to see Steve Rogers?” 

Peter turned around and sat on top of the stairs. He didn’t know what he wanted but he nodded his head anyways. He noticed both of the hopes fall from their eyes and then he was walking back down the stairs slowly. 

As much as Tony wanted Peter to change his mind, he didn’t and now they had to go meet their sons kidnapper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh so Peter is going to see Steve again now..... will be back out tho? Who knows 
> 
> Also realistically I don’t think the judge would have let a 10 year old see their kidnapper, even in this kind of situation but it’s just a fic so let’s just pretend that’s what would have happened 
> 
> Also I’m kinda freaking out a bit because at work we have this heater thing and I can’t remember if I turned it off so I was going over what I did before I left in my head and I know that I did not turn it off. The other worker I will with better have turned it off because I definitely did not and I’m so scared it’s gonna catch fire omgggg!!!
> 
> But on a happier note, I can’t remember if I told you guys but I’m writing a Halloween fic and I’m sooo excited to post it omggggg! I write it at night and I scare myself sometimes


	12. Take a look around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!! Happy Friday! It’s almost Halloween and I’m excited! This chapter is going up one day early, I’ll be posting the next chapter either Saturday night or Sunday morning for you guys:)) 
> 
> Enjoy!!!

Tony couldn’t stop looking in the backseat at Peter.

He had his fingers in his mouth for the whole drive to the courthouse, biting on his nails. 

Tony had never had the bad habit of biting his nails but he was about to take it up now. He didn’t know what was going to happen when they got there. Natasha had said that she was going to meet them in the parking lot and bring them inside but he didn’t know what was going to happen after that. 

As much as he tried to calm himself down, he couldn’t stop thinking about seeing their son's kidnappers face in front of him. He didn’t even know how he was going to react. 

Part of him felt that he was going to be able to stay calm but another part of him felt like he was going to completely lose it and attack the guy. Although that would be one hell of a fucking scene for his child so he would try to refrain from doing that. 

Tony pulled up to the building and started to feel sick. It was the worst possible feeling and he would know because he felt it every time the phone rang and it was an unknown number or when the doorbell rang or when they would get a new lead on Peter only for nothing positive to come from it. 

Peter started to panic. He didn’t want to go inside and see his dad, yet he did want to and that was frustrating him. He tried to pull his feet up onto his booster seat that Tony had moved onto the other seat for him. 

The van shut off and then both parents were turning around to look at him. “Are you ready? You can say no whenever you want.” 

Peter shook his head at Pepper but let his gaze linger on for a little while longer. “I um, I’m ready.” 

Natasha was walking out to their car and opening up the back door, plastering a smile on her face that Tony saw right through but he didn’t blame her. 

“Hello Peter. How are you?” Natasha asked him but Peter looked past her and looked at the courthouse, wondering if his dad was already inside. “Are you ready to get out of your car seat and come in or do you want a few more minutes?” 

Peter took off his seatbelt and got out of the car. He wanted to hold onto someone’s hand. He was scared but he didn’t know why. 

The four of them started making their way towards the entryway of the building with Peter straying behind. 

When they got inside, Natasha led them down a hallway and through a door. She then turned to Peter and spoke. “I want you to know that you can always say no. At any point. It doesn’t matter.” 

Peter nodded his head. It was good to know. He looked at the door behind him and suddenly felt his hands start to sweat with an overwhelming feeling. 

Natasha stood up straighter and looked at Tony and Pepper. “You guys don’t have to come in if you don’t want to.” 

“No. We’re not leaving him.” Tony didn’t care how hard it was for him. He was not going to leave Peter. 

“Okay. Let’s go.” She pushed open a door that led to another long hallway so they started walking towards the doors at the end of it when those doors were being opened and four men were walking out. 

Tony noticed him before anyone else did. He felt his blood run cold at the sight. 

Peter stopped frozen once he saw who was at the other end of the hallway. He took a hesitant step forward to try and see if it was really him. “Dad?” 

Once Peter realized it was his dad, everything that he was feeling before was melting away and all he knew was that he wanted to be held by the man. He started running towards him as fast as he could. “Daddy! Daddy!” 

Steve bent down to be ready to catch Peter in his arms. “Peter. Oh my baby bear.” Steve caught Peter and lifted him up, hugging him so tightly and breathing in his scent. “Daddy is so so sorry. Daddy’s so sorry he put your through so much.” 

Peter couldn’t hold in his emotions anymore. He began crying into Steve’s shoulder and squeezed him as tightly as he could. “I h-hate you.” He said, muffled by Steve’s shirt. 

“No, bear. Don’t say that. You’re making me so sad. Give me a hug.” Steve didn’t let Peter pull away from him and ignored the family at the end of the hallway. 

Peter managed to pull his face away from Steve’s shoulder and began hitting him but they were weak smacks since he had nothing in him. “You-you’re a liar. My-my mom never died in a fire. You l-lied to me!” 

Steve shook his head and kneeled down so he could place Peter on his feet but he was at his eye level. “Shh. I had to. I had to protect you.” 

Peter shook his head. He didn’t know how he could trust this man now. “You hurt me!” 

Steve was shaking his head along with Peter and moved his hands to hold at his waist. “Stop it, Peter. Daddy loves you so much. I do but the bad people tried to take you from me. Again.” 

Peter leaned forward so he could cry into Steve’s chest, desperate for some kind of comfort but Steve wasn’t letting him. “Say you love me, Peter.” 

Peter let out a sob. “I love you, daddy.” 

Steve then picked Peter back up and stood up with him in his arms, rocking him side to side like he used to do with him so many times. 

Back on the other end of the hallway, Tony and Pepper watched on heartbrokenly. 

When Peter ran towards his kidnapper and calling him daddy, his world crumbled right under his nose and there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe Peter would never associate that name with him. 

Pepper was crying silent tears and clinging onto Tony as if her life depended on it and in a way, it did. She wanted to reach out and grab Peter from running into that sick bastard's arms but Peter had made his choice. 

Peter lifted his head back up and looked at the man he called dad for so many years. “Do you even love me?” 

Steve looked offended and Peter thought he was going to yell at him for asking a ridiculous question but then his face changed into a fond look. “Who was the one who potty trained you?” 

Peter sighed. “You.” 

“And who was the one who took you to your first day of school?” 

“You.” 

“And who was the one who would go swimming with you or push you on the swings at the park or eat ice cream on sundays with?” 

“You.” 

“Yes. Me. And I did all that because I love you. It was so hard for me, being a single daddy to my little boy but we did it together.” Steve went to press a kiss to Peter’s cheek but Peter turned his head. “Don’t make me sad.” 

Peter looked down the hallway at Tony and Pepper as he let Steve press a kiss to his cheek. He wanted to be with them. He didn’t know why he was feeling that way. 

Being with the man he thought was his dad his whole life… made him feel… wrong now. He didn’t know how to explain it. 

“Mr. Rogers, if you would follow us into the next room.” One of the security guards said and held the door open for him to carry Peter through. 

Steve started walking but Peter wanted down so he weakly kicked his legs to be put down but Steve held him tighter. “I wanna walk, dad.” 

“I want to hold you, bear. I missed you so much. Didn’t you miss me?” Steve frowned at him so Peter nodded his head and wrapped his arms around the man. 

He shut his eyes because he didn’t want to see Tony and Pepper walking behind him. 

He focused on the footsteps and then thought back to Morgan crying for him. He didn’t comfort her because he didn’t know how. Now, he wishes that he did. He wonders what she’s doing right now. 

When Peter opened his eyes next, they were in a courtroom. He saw that there were two sides to the courtroom then him and Steve were led to one side and when he looked over, Tony and Pepper were sitting down on the opposite side. 

He made eye contact with Tony as he was manhandled onto Steve’s lap. He looked away from Tony when Steve started talking to him. “Bear? I love you. You need to know that.” 

That’s not love, Peter. That’s manipulation. 

Harley’s words ran through his mind. He didn’t think it was true then but now, he wasn’t so sure. 

“Okay.” Peter stressed out and then tried to slide off of Steve’s lap but he held him by the hips. “I wanna show you something.” 

Steve hesitated but let Peter slid off of him and sat down on the floor by his feet so Steve leaned forward to see what Peter was doing. “I tied my shoes myself. Aren’t you proud of me? Tony taught me and I learned quickly.” 

Peter looked up at Steve but he looked anything but proud. 

“That’s not good, Peter. He had no right to do that. You were supposed to learn when you were ready to learn.” Steve shook his head at Peter and then pulled him to his feet. 

Peter eyed him. “But I was ready. It’s just shoes, dad. Relax about it. Now I know how.” 

Steve put his head in his hands and continued to shake his head. “I know. I’m sorry, bear. It’s just been so hard for me because I was worried sick about you. Give daddy a hug.” 

Peter climbed onto Steve’s lap with each leg on either side of him so their chests were pressed together. “I missed you too, you know. And you didn’t come for me. I cried for you.” 

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t safe for me to get to you. I didn’t know where you were.” Steve rubbed Peter’s back like he always did when Peter was upset but this time, it wasn’t calming him down. 

“Why did you lie to me? I-I trusted you and-and now I can never ever trust you again.” Peter admitted to him but he wanted to know why? 

Steve shook his head and pulled Peter closer to him. “You’re too young, bear. I can’t explain it to you right now. I have to wait until you’re older.” 

“Dad, no. Just tell me why. Please. After-after everything I deserve to know.” Peter begged him, wanting to ask him so many questions that he might not get the option to. 

Steve sighed loudly and looked into his eyes. “Okay… I’ll try to simplify it so you can understand. I lied to you to protect you. There are so many evil people in this world and only I can keep you safe.” 

“Is that why you never let me go to a sleepover? Or-or go to the fair or play in the streets with my friends?” Peter smacked his chest, feeling himself start to break down. Words ran through his mind that Tony said to him last night. “I don’t wanna live my life on the sidelines anymore!” 

“I’m so sorry but stop yelling, Peter. We have to keep our voices down so no one can hear us.” Steve whispered desperately and tried to cover Peter’s mouth but he slapped his hand away. “Peter Rogers.” 

Peter shook his head at Steve. “That’s not even my name.” 

Steve started to panic. He didn’t want to lose Peter. “I had to lie to you, baby bear. I had to.” 

“Would you ever have told me the truth?” Peter asked him, already knowing what the answer would be. 

Steve didn’t respond which told Peter all he needed to know. “What about my mom? You told me she was dead and I wanted a mom so badly.” 

Steve started rubbing Peter’s back again. “If I told you she was alive then you would have hated me for keeping you from her.” 

“I hate you now.” Peter whispered. 

“No, no you don’t. Don’t make daddy sad, bear. I know you love me. You’re just upset but we’ll get through this together.” Steve tried to pull Peter into his chest but Peter didn’t move. 

“I do. I hate you.” Peter told him again, trying so hard to keep the tears back. “I-I, why did you even take me from the park? Why me?” 

“Because, my eyes landed on you and I just knew that we were supposed to be together. That I was supposed to protect my brown eyed curly haired bear.” Steve smiled weakly at Peter but Peter shook his head. 

“No. I-I was supposed to be with-with Tony.” Peter pointed to the other side of the room where they were sitting but Steve pulled his arm back to his side. “And-and Pepper. And Harley and Morgan and Asier. You took me from that.” Peter smacked Steve’s chest again but he didn’t react. 

“Shh. I told you that you’re too young to understand.” Steve gently cupped Peter’s face and pulled him down on his chest. 

Peter immediately started crying. He covered his hands over his face and cried as silently as he could. He didn’t know what he was feeling or what he wanted. All he knew was that he didn’t want to lie on Steve’s chest. 

He continued to shake and cry against him even as he heard people walk into the room. Steve was standing up then which caused Peter to slide off of him and onto the floor. 

“All rise. The court is in session.” 

Peter rubbed at his eye to see who was talking but then he was lifting his arms back up to Steve to get some more comfort but he didn’t even know why he was lifting his arms up. He knew it had to have been a force of habit from all of the times that he’s done that in his life. 

Steve picked him up, holding him at his side while they waited to be seated again and then he was sitting with Peter back on his lap. Peter turned himself around so his back was pressed up against Steve’s and with Steve’s hands on his stomach. 

Peter used to love sitting on his dad like this but now, not so much. Everything was so different now. 

He listened to the judge start speaking but he zoned out and went over the conversation with Steve in his head. 

He looked over at Tony and Pepper who looked so sad. He knew it was because of him and that hurt him. He wanted to make them happy because they taught him so much and always included him in everything without making him feel bad if he didn’t want to do something. 

He caught Pepper looking over at him and smiled weakly. Peter wanted her to hold him. He wanted to be held by his mother but then Steve was bouncing his leg which caused Peter to turn his body to face the other way. 

Peter wondered what Harley was doing. He wondered what his big brother was doing. He never thought he would have that thought in his whole entire life. 

He thought about Morgan and if she was okay after they left or not. He would have to make it up to her somehow. He didn’t know how. 

He didn’t want to go back to the life that he used to have. He wanted to go back to the life that he knows now. That’s where he was always meant to be. 

Is this really what you want? You really want to leave Morgan and I? 

Harley’s words ran through his mind. He didn’t want to leave Harley or Morgan. He was a big brother and a little brother and he had his own dog that waited for him outside his bedroom door every single morning then raced down the stairs to get his food. 

Peter let out a breath of air to stop himself from crying. 

He didn’t want to cry but he knew it was coming. The memories from swimming in the pool last night had been one of the best nights ever. He got to swim in his underwear and it was so much fun. 

He even jumped in by himself and everyone had been so proud of him. He wished he felt that proudness all the time. It was definitely one of the best feelings ever. 

After getting to feel what it was like to be loved by a dad and a mom. 

And he had that. He had it all. 

Peter looked over at Tony and Pepper again and this time, they were both looking at them. Steve started to bounce his leg again to get him to stop looking at them but he didn’t want to. 

He wanted to be with them. 

Tony had said that he’s given him a choice to do what he wants because he loves him so much but Steve wasn’t giving him a choice. 

Peter arched his back so that Steve let him go but he just held onto him tighter and tried to reposition him on his lap but Peter was moving around too much because he wanted off. 

“Let go.” Peter struggled out and went to get his hands off of his stomach but he was nowhere near as strong as Steve so he slid out from under him, onto the floor. 

Peter crawled away from him and then stood up and ran across the aisle so he could be with Tony and Pepper. 

Tony already had his arms open for him to crawl into which Peter wasted no time doing. He let Tony hold him and started crying loudly into his chest. 

Tony and Pepper couldn’t stop their tears now but never did they expect that they would be crying happy tears right now. Seeing Peter in Steve’s arms and sitting on his lap was hell for them. 

They had been listening to the conversation the best they could when they were talking about everything and they saw Peter smacking the man but then he was cuddled against his chest and lifting his arms up to be held again. It was torture to watch. 

But now, they had Peter in their arms. 

Tony pressed a kiss to the top of Peter’s head and then looked over at Steve Rogers and made eye contact with him for the first time since the man had refused to look in their direction. 

Steve looked absolutely furious but Tony didn’t care. Peter was with them now. Peter chose them. 

“I love you so much, baby boy. So much.” Pepper said to him and rubbed his cheek that was soaked with tears. Peter nodded his head against Tony’s chest. He loved Pepper too. 

“Mr and Mrs. Stark. Can you please bring Peter up to the stand.” The judge asked them so Tony went to stand but Peter was shaking his head. 

“We’ll all go together.” Tony reassured him. It wasn’t a real court hearing, there were no jury or lawyers. Just the judge and a few detectives and police sitting in both back rows on either side. 

“No.” Peter whined into his chest but Tony was still stronger than him and was pulling him to his feet so Peter had no choice but to walk along with him up to the stand. 

Pepper was standing next to him as well so Peter was hidden from everyone else. 

“Peter, my name is judge May Parker. Would you like to answer questions on the stand or with your parents and I in a private room?” The judge asked but Peter was shaking his head. 

“A room with you guys.” Peter mumbled into Tony’s chest so Tony tapped on his back so he could say it louder for the judge to hear him. “A room with my parents.” 

Tony felt his heart skip a beat. It was the first time Peter had referred to them like that. 

“Alright. Let’s head on back.” 

They all walked into a room with a board meeting table so the judge sat herself down at one end and Tony led them over to the side of the table with Peter sitting between them. 

Two detectives sat on the opposite end of the table to observe and take notes. 

“It’s just us in here, Peter. You have nothing to be afraid of. I’m just going to ask you some simple questions and if you don’t know the answer, just say you don’t know.” Judge May Parker explained nicely to him and then she was starting. 

“Can you tell me your full name?” 

Peter hesitated. He didn’t know what answer she wanted. “Peter… Stark.” 

“And before you were known as Peter Rogers? Is that correct?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Uh huh.” 

She wrote some stuff down and then was looking at him again. “And how old are you? When is your birthday?” 

“I just turned ten and my birthday is August tenth.” Peter answered her then reached out to play with the ring on Tony’s hand. 

“Do you know what hospital you were born at?” 

“Ummm… I don’t know.” 

The judge looked between Tony and Pepper for the answer. “What hospital was he born at?” 

“Lenox Hill Hospital.” Pepper answered her then watched as the judge wrote something down and then looked back up at Peter. 

“Did you know that you had a mom prior to September 9th? The day when you were brought into the police station?” 

Peter shook his head. “No.” 

“And what were you told before?” 

“Ummm… I was told that um, my mom died in a fire. Along with like, all my baby pictures from baby to three years old.” Peter answered and moved to sit up on his knees. 

“Did you know that Steve Rogers wasn’t your real daddy at any point, Peter?” May Parker asked him but he was biting his nails and shaking his head. “Do you remember the first year after you were kidnapped? Do you remember where Steve Rogers took you?” 

Peter tried to think about it but he couldn’t remember anything. “Mm-mm. I don’t remember.” 

“Do you remember if anyone ever came up to you saying that you looked familiar or anything like that?” Peter tilted his head at her in confusion. People say that all the time and he says it too. “Did you ever feel like someone knew you from somewhere else and tie it to the missing report?” 

“No. I don’t know. I didn’t know I was missing.” Saying that out loud sounded so weird. He didn’t like it. 

“Alright. What about Steve Rogers, did he ever tell you not to tell people certain things or not to do certain things?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah.” 

“Yeah? Like what kind of things?” May Parker asked, very interested. 

“Umm… things like… I wasn’t allowed to tell people where I was from or… my last name sometimes and he-he had to go through my phone every night but I just had three numbers in it. Him, my best friend Ned and Bucky.” Peter counted on his fingers then sat back down on his knees. 

“Is Bucky your friend too?” May asked but it was a surprise to Tony and Pepper as well because they heard of Ned but never Bucky. 

“No. He’s um, his friend.” Peter explained to them. 

“Bucky. Do you know his last name?” 

Peter looked away and started chewing on his fingers but Tony took his hand away from his mouth. “What’s Bucky’s last name, bud?” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not allowed to say.” 

Judge May Parker was taking off her glasses and smiling warmly at Peter. “Did Steve tell you not to tell anyone?” Peter nodded. “But he hasn’t been very nice to you and we’re all trying to help you. We promise that you won’t get in trouble.” 

Peter thought about it. “Hmm, it’s just for emergencies. Just to call Bucky if I can’t get a hold of um, him. I’m not supposed to tell anyone else.” 

“Can you tell me his last name? Do you know it?” May Parker asked again. 

“Ummm, well… it’s Barnes.” Peter sat down and wrapped his arms around his legs. He hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble for telling her that. 

“That’s good. And have you ever met Bucky? Is he nice?” 

“Yeah. He’s really nice. We used to drive up to his house and swim in the lake together.” Peter told her. 

“He has a lake? So he lives really far then?” 

Peter nodded his head. “He lives in Ithaca.” 

May Parker looked across the table at the two detectives briefly since that was where Steve was found. “Would you happen to know his house address?” 

Peter immediately shook his dad. “No. I always had to sleep when we got close. And sometimes I wasn’t tired and I didn’t want to sleep so dad would pull over at a gas station and give me like milk that tasted weird then I would go to sleep and wake up the next day.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper and she was looking right back at him. Tony didn’t know what he was hearing. Peter just admitted that Steve had drugged him so he would fall asleep and not know the location of the house. 

The judge was writing stuff down and then asking Peter more questions. “How often did you see Bucky? Did he ever come to your house?” 

“No. He had a motorcycle so it was too far for him and we only went in the summer and um, when he said the bad people were coming to take me from him.” Peter explained to the judge. He didn’t really know how these questions were important. 

“The bad people? Who are the bad people?” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders and groaned. Ned always asked him that question and he always asked Steve but he didn’t know. “I don’t know. Just… bad people that were going to hurt me if they found me so we had to go to Bucky's house whenever they got too close.” 

Tony slapped his hand on the table. “The leeds Natasha and I traced multiple leeds to Queens but they always fell through.” 

Peter didn’t know what he was talking about but everyone else seemed to and then May Parker was writing something down again. 

“Alright. That’s all the questions that I need to know. Thank you so much, Peter. You are so so brave.” May Parker was standing up and shaking all of their hands and then walking to the door. 

“Can we go home now?” Peter asked the judge with hopeful eyes. 

“Yes. You are all free to go.” 

Peter was so happy to hear that. He just wanted to go home and for this day to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I hope you guys liked that chapter:) it’s probably my favourite or one of my favourites just because it shows how much Peter is coming to terms with who Steve really is and who his family is


	13. I’m falling down to the ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I should stop saying when I’m going to update because I almost never do on those times so sorry but I was so busy trying to finish my other Halloween fic and then last night I didn’t have time but here it is.... I hope you guys like it:))

Apparently the emotions were running strong through Peter. 

When they walked out of the courtroom, everyone had been escorted out which Tony was incredibly grateful for because he didn’t want to see that sick man’s face again. 

They walked into the hallway where Natasha was waiting for them after she left the courtroom. She nodded her head at Tony and Pepper, silently asking them to tell her everything later. 

“What time is it? I’m hungry?” Peter asked as the four of them left the courthouse and started walking across the parking lot to the van. 

“It is…” Tony pulled out his phone and saw that it was just past five. “5:17. We’ll go home and eat dinner soon since we missed lunch. And everything else.” 

Peter looked across the street and saw a McDonald’s there and he wanted it so he grabbed Tony’s hand and pulled him in that direction. “I want McDonald’s.” 

Tony went to unlock the car at the same time as Peter tugged on his arm so he dropped the keys. “We're going home to eat because Grandma and Grandpa are cooking food.” 

Peter shook his head. “I want McDonald’s! Please!” 

Tony picked up the keys and looked over at Pepper because this came out of nowhere. They had no idea what was going on. 

“McDonald’s.” Peter held onto Tony’s hand and sat on his butt in the middle of the parking lot. 

“Peter. Stand up.” Tony tried to pull Peter up but he was falling onto his stomach so Tony looked up at Natasha for help because what the fuck. 

She nodded her head at him, seeming to know exactly what’s going on. She was in the courtroom so she saw everything. 

She gestured for Tony to walk over to Pepper’s side so she could tell them privately. “He doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions because he doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Today was extremely emotional for him but a huge huge step in the healing process. He saw the man he saw as a father who is actually his kidnapper, then he figured out himself that hmm, maybe this man doesn’t love me and maybe I don’t love him so he’s letting that part of him go.” 

She continued, gesturing to Peter. “So… instead of crying for Steve because that’s what he’s been doing before, he’s crying for McDonald’s because that was the first thing he saw. If you get him McDonald’s, he will be fine for a few minutes and then it will be that he doesn’t want to sit in his car seat but wants to sit in Morgan’s or he’ll want kfc now or want to change seats. It’s an output and as hard as it may be, it’s a huge improvement and healing process so be patient with him.” 

Tony was okay with this. Peter wasn’t crying for another man so he could handle this. 

“So… should we get him McDonald’s?” Tony asked Pepper who looked at Natasha. 

“It’s up to you.” 

“Small fry?” Tony asked Pepper. Peter was hungry and tried as well. 

She nodded her head and then was walking over to get Peter who wasn’t even phased about where he was lying. “Peter, stand up and tell us what you want?” 

Peter wiped dramatically at his eyes and pointed across the street. “I want McDonald’s.” 

“Okay, if you stop crying then we’ll drive through and grab some food, okay?” Pepper spoke to Peter as if he were a toddler but at this point he was acting like one anyways. 

“Yeah.” Peter stood up and sucked in a breath and followed them to the car. Tony opened up the back door and gently pushed Peter into the car but he refused and shook his head. “No. I don’t want to sit in my car seat. It’s ugly and uncomfortable.” 

Tony looked back at Natasha who was watching them. “Okay… well, there’s nothing much I can do about that so,” 

“I want to sit in Morgan’s.” Peter pointed in the back to where Morgan’s was from before and was already preparing to hear no but then Tony was climbing into the back seat to grab the damn car seat. 

Pepper looked over at Natasha who predicted exactly what Peter was going to do but it was no surprise to her. Natasha was a child whisperer. 

Tony got the car seat back into it’s proper spot and secured which he hated doing but he was an expert at it by now. “Okay, hop in.” 

Peter climbed into the car and sat in Morgan’s car seat then got his seatbelt on and looked at Tony who was watching him. “McDonald’s.” 

Tony smiled, despite the long car ride they had ahead of them. It was definitely going to be a long hour. 

Tony shut the car door and sighed loudly. 

“Call me if you need anything. I can be at your house at any time.” Natasha pulled Pepper in for a hug and then Tony. “You guys can do this. Just remember that he’s going through the emotions. Remember everything that I told you. Don’t be surprised if this is off and on for a day or two.” 

“Here I was thinking it was going to last the car ride.” Tony joked and then opened up the driver’s door and got in. 

Natasha waved bye to Peter in the back. “Bye Peter. I’ll see you soon.” Peter quickly waved back then looked behind him at the McDonald’s sign. 

Pepper got into the passenger spot and then Tony was starting the car and they were leaving this courthouse for good. He did not want to be coming back here. Ever. 

When they got into the McDonald’s line up, Pepper was turning around to look at Peter. “You can have something small to tie you over until we go home and eat dinner.” 

“I want… fries and fruitopia.” Peter answered and waited excitedly for his food. He was so hungry and thirty. 

Tony ended up getting a coffee while Pepper got a mango pineapple smoothie. Peter immediately started digging into his fries and so far there were no tears or no demands for more so Tony counted that as a win. 

He began driving back home which was just over an hour away so they wouldn’t be back until almost seven at night. Everyone was going to be exhausted except for Peppers parents who flew in from California so they were three hours behind them. 

Twenty minutes into their drive, Peter finished his fries and his drink so he put the drink in the helpful cup holder and kicked the back of Peppers seat. He kicked it again when no one said anything. 

“Stop that, Peter.” Pepper said as she texted her mother back on her phone but Peter was doing it again. 

“Peter, what did your mom just say?” Tony said, not even turning his head to look at Peter. 

“I finished my McDonald’s but I’m still hungry.” Peter told them and kicked the back of Peppers seat again. He wasn’t even that hungry but he wanted them to give him attention. 

“Perfect. So you’ll be hungry when we get home for dinner.” Tony smiled back at Peter who had a huge frown on his face. Tony's smile was genuine since he had his kid with him. 

Peter wasn’t crying for his kidnapper and wasn’t demanding to be taken back to the man which was extremely scary when he watched Peter run into the arms of his kidnapper and continue to stay with him for the duration of the court session. 

All Tony was picturing was taking Peter out of the man’s arms while Peter cried and kicked and screamed and that would not have looked or felt good at all. 

“Please. Just… I’m so thirsty.” Peter looked at Tony to try and get a reaction out of him but he wasn’t getting anything so he tried to kick his seat but he couldn’t reach it. “No!” 

Tony and Pepper both ignored the crying that started. They could do this. Tony reached out to hold onto Peppers hand so she leaned over onto his shoulder for a few seconds before the awkward stretch got too uncomfortable. 

Peter had calmed down considerably once they pulled into the driveway of the house. Tony shut the car off and was so relieved to finally be at home and because Pepper’s parents were over and we’re going to help out for a few days. 

Tony hadn’t seen them in years. 

The last time they came down was for Morgan’s fifth birthday party and then Pepper took the kids to visit them a few times since then but he never went. 

Those were the times when it hit him the hardest that Peter was gone and he wanted to be alone. 

And now, Peter was going to see his grandparents again after everything. Although it didn’t look like Peter wanted to do anything but eat McDonald’s and Tony now knew that he didn’t even want McDonald’s, Natasha’s words. 

Tony walked around to Pepper’s side and opened up the back door to take Peter in since he wasn’t making a move to get out himself. “I know you wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa before. Let’s go inside and see them.” 

Peter shook his head with his arms crossed over his chest. “No.” 

Pepper got out of the car with her purse falling out of her hands and spilling everything onto the floor so Tony helped her pick everything up. 

Pepper moved the hair off her face and looked at Peter who was being stubborn. “We’re gonna go inside now so let’s go, Peter. Take off your seatbelt,” When she reached over to take off his seatbelt, Peter started screaming as if she was beating him. “Shh! There’s no need for that.” 

Asier came running out from the backyard and tried to see what was going on but he shouldn’t even be allowed to do that. “Why is he even out in the front? I thought we fixed the gate.” 

“Come on, Peter. We aren’t making this a whole day event. Let’s go.” Tony took the seat belt off and pulled Peter out of the car but he grabbed onto the car seat so he couldn’t go anywhere. “Let go.” 

“I don’t wanna go inside!” Peter yelled and tried to kick Tony but it wasn’t working. “Noooo!” 

Tony pried Peter off the seat and dropped him on the ground from the way Peter was moving around too much. “Peter. Shut the door quickly, Pep.” 

“No.” Peter looked up at the closed door and then up at Tony with spit dripping from his mouth as he cried. It reminded Tony of Peter when he was a baby, but the thought was sad since his kid was hurting now. 

“It’s okay. Come here.” Tony lifted Peter in his arms but Peter squirmed out his arms so Tony ended up holding him by the underarms with Peter’s shirt rising up as they walked to the front door so Pepper could unlock it. 

Asier immediately ran inside and it was no doubt that everyone inside heard the crying that was going on. Tony hoisted Peter up more and then saw Peppers mom, Alice, appearing in the hallway with her hand over her mouth. 

“Hi mom.” Pepper melted at seeing her mom then crossed the distance between them to hug but Alice was more focused on her grand baby. 

Alice walked over to Tony and kneeled down so she could get a better look at Peter who had his back to him while he tried to wiggle out of Tony’s arms. “Let go of him, Anthony. You’re hurting him.” 

Tony gently placed Peter on the floor who sat there and continued crying. Tony fixed his own shirt and wiped a hand over his face. “It’s nice to see you too, Alice.” 

Alice gently placed her hand on Peter’s back so he was turning around to look at who just touched him. His face was all red and blotchy and he had spit dripping down his chin and he chewed on his finger. It was not a pretty sight but Pepper’s mom saw right past that and cupped Peter’s cheeks which caused him to stop crying a bit. 

“Hi beautiful baby. I missed you so much.” Alice wiped a tear that had fallen down her cheek but then Tony was walking away which made Peter start to cry harder and try to move to follow him. Alice smiled. “Always have been a daddy’s boy.” 

That made Tony smile. It was true. Peter was his baby. He picked Peter up, struggling to hold him because he wasn’t making it easy by the way he was moving around and crying right in Tony’s ear. 

“I’m taking him upstairs for a bit then we’ll be back down.” Tony said to whoever was listening then he struggled to get Peter up the stairs and into their bedroom where he shut the door and sat Peter onto the bed. 

“Do you want to shower to calm down?” Tony asked him, knowing the fresh water would be nice. He would suggest a bath but last time Peter had a bath in their room, it was 2am and he refused to get out so Tony had to drag him out. That was not fun. 

“No! I wan’-I wanna go downstairs!” Peter cried out and pointed at the door so Tony sat on the bed with him. He went to go pull off Peter’s shoes but he realized he wasn’t wearing any which made him wonder when he had taken them off. Probably during his car temper tantrums. 

“We will go downstairs but let’s calm down first. Tell me what’s on your mind.” Tony pulled Peter up so he was tucked over his arm and then he started playing with his hair. 

Peter tried his best to calm down. “I-I wanted McDonald’s! And-and then I did-didn’t want to sit on that side of the car.” 

Tony nodded along, remembering what Natasha had told them. “Alright. You’ll feel better if you change out of these clothes.” 

The door was being opened so Pepper walked in and shut it behind her, looking at the scene in front of her. “Is everything okay now?” 

Peter let out a sob and shook his head. “No! It’s not.” 

“Peter wanted to sit on the other side of the car.” Tony explained to her, even though the reason was absolutely ridiculous but to Peter it was worth crying over. “So I told him that he’s going to feel better if he changes out of his clothes and puts on something comfy.” 

“Yeah. And I’ll find something really comfy for you to wear.” She began looking through the clothes hamper that they had in their room with most of Peter’s clothes on it since he changed in their room most of the time. 

Peter stood up and wiped at his tears then walked over to Pepper to wait for her to find something for him to wear. “Pep, I’m just gonna go change in the bathroom.” 

She nodded at him and pulled out a grey pullover sweater for Peter. “Oh. This is extra soft. Do you wanna put this on?” 

Peter took it from her and then took off the shirt that he was wearing to put that one on. He bent down to look in the clean laundry for something but when he couldn’t find anything, he tossed it over. 

“Peter, there’s no need for that. What are you looking for?” Pepper kneeled down to put the clean clothes back in but Peter was kicking the clothes around with a pout on his face. “Stop it.” 

“I want new underwear and pants. And socks.” Peter told her then started pulling his socks off. When Tony walked out of the bathroom, freshly dressed in a clean AC/DC shirt and track pants, Peter threw his smelly socks at him. 

“What was that for?” Tony looked down at him but Peter looked away. 

“Tony, don’t.” Pepper warned him then pulled out some clean underwear from Peter to pick from. “What one’s do you want?” 

Peter stood up and walked into the bathroom to go pee. Pepper just stared at him leave so suddenly and then looked at Tony, confused. Tony walked over and saw that he was peeing which explained it. “He’s going pee.” 

Peter took off the rest of his dirty clothes that he hated now and then walked out into the bedroom to finish getting into comfy clothes but he liked the attention he was receiving. He looked at Tony who was sitting on the bed and waiting for him so he sat back down and grabbed a random pair of underwear. 

“Are you gonna put those ones on?” Pepper asked him but Peter was glaring at her. 

“No.” He kicked his leg out to kick her away and then went back to slowly putting his feet through the holes. 

Tony watched as Peter moved in slow motion but he didn’t say anything and he hoped that Pepper didn’t either and she didn’t but then she grabbed his dirty socks off the ground which was going to be the next thing for Peter to start crying about. 

“Noooo. I wanted them to stay there and you ruined it!” Peter kicked his legs out in front of him and wanted to scream but he just threw his head back instead. 

There was a knock on the door and at first Tony thought it was Peppers mom but then Harley was walking in. He looked down at his little brother on the floor and then walked over to his dad. 

“It didn’t go well? He-he didn’t want to leave him?” Harley asked, scared of the answer. From the looks of Peter crying on the floor half naked, it painted a picture to what went on today but it wasn’t what Harley was thinking. 

“No. He uh, it was hard at first but Peter didn’t want to see him anymore. Natasha had told us to expect this from Peter for about a day or two because he’s dealing with his emotions the best way he knows how.” Tony explained to his oldest son and gave him a weak smile. 

A huge smile broke across Harley’s face. “Wait, what? Are you serious? Oh my god, I thought he was crying because you guys had to take him from… him and I just, oh my god.” 

Tony gave his oldest son a quick hug. “Yeah. Nope, he’s just crying now because mom moved his socks. Before it was over McDonald’s. That we let him have.” 

Harley looked down at Peter and wiped happy tears from his eyes. “Okay. Okay. That’s good, um, we’re all ready for you guys when you are.” 

“Alright, buddy. We’ll be done in a few minutes.” Tony watched Harley leave and then he stood up to kneel in front of Peter so he could get him dressed because Peter was sitting there in the same position for the past ten minutes. 

Peter fell onto his back and continued crying as Tony pulled the underwear up on him and then grabbed a new pair of track pants to put that on him but Peter was trying to weakly kick him away. “No, I don’ like those ones.” 

“That’s okay.” Tony pulled them up on Peter and stood up just as Pepper walked out of the bathroom, dressed in clean clothes. She looked down at Peter and smiled. 

“All ready to go.” 

Peter sat up and reached for Tony so he sighed and turned to Pepper. “I’m gonna give him a cold cloth. Can you tell everyone that we’ll be down in five minutes?” 

“Of course. I’ll see you soon.” 

Tony picked Peter up and walked into the bathroom, sitting him on the counter top. “Shh, we’re gonna go eat some dinner and have a quiet night. Remember how excited you were to see Grandma and Grandpa?” 

Peter puffed out a breath of air and nodded his head. Tony could see the pure exhaustion on his face. He hoped that he stayed up to at least get some food in him. Tony would feed him if he had to because the last meal Peter had was breakfast. 

Tony began wiping Peter’s cheeks with the cloth and smiled at those beautiful brown eyes that were staring back at him. 

“I love you so much Peter.” Tony said to him while he cupped his face with the cool cloth. Peter leaned forward and rested his head on his shoulder, nuzzling into him. 

“Dad.” Peter whispered and if it wasn’t near Tony’s ear, he may have not heard it but he did and he was freaking out on the inside. He didn’t know what to say or how to react so he just continued to hold Peter with his hands supporting his bum. 

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s head and walked out of the bathroom with him in his arms. “Dad’s got you, baby. Daddy’s got you.” He whispered to him, knowing that Peter heard him. 

Tony walked down the stairs, towards the loud chatter coming from the kitchen. He rounded the corner and the room fell silent as everyone turned to look at them. 

“Petey! You came back to me!” Morgan dropped what she was doing and jumped off the kitchen stool then ran over to Tony, hitting his legs at full force. “Daddy! Let me see him! Let me see him!” 

Tony felt Peter lifting his head up from his shoulder and then looking down at Morgan. “Hi.” Peter said quietly with a faint smile appearing on his lips before he laid his head just under Tony’s shoulder blade.

“Petey! I missed you. I thought you were leaving us.” Morgan told him sadly but then a smile was appearing on her face and tried to lift her arms up desperately to get picked up but Tony wasn’t about to carry two children. 

“Did you help cook dinner, Morgan?” Tony asked her and watched her get distracted while she went over to the fridge to grab something. 

Tony looked over at Pepper’s dad, Mike, who was staring at Peter, frozen on the spot. Tony walked over to him and felt Peter turn his face into his neck again. “He’s had a long day. Pete, look who it is. Remember you were excited to meet them?” 

“Oh my god. I can’t believe this is happening. When we got the news I fainted.” Mike explained as he tried to stop his hands from shaking. 

“It’s true. He did.” Alice added. 

“Hi Peter. You probably don’t remember us but I’m your Grandpa and this is your Grandma. Although I’m a lot cooler than her.” Mike wiped a few tears from his eyes and then Peter was lifting his head up a bit to look at them. “Oh. Look at you, I see you. I can see your eyes.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes at her parents. “Dad, he’s not a baby.” 

“I know that. It’s just, he’s still our baby.” Mike reached out to rub Peter’s back but he hesitated and put his hand down. 

“How about you sit here with them while I help mom with the dishes to bring outside?” Tony said to Peter and went to sit him on the kitchen stool but Peter was shaking his head and whining loudly so Tony sat him on his hip so he had one hand available. 

“Oh. Still a daddy’s boy I see.” Mike observed. “Once a daddy’s boy, always a daddy boy.” 

Tony loved the sound of that. 

He walked over to Pepper, wanting to tell her so badly what Peter told her but he had to keep it to himself a little longer. Maybe that was making it even more special because as of that moment, only him and Peter knew. 

They all helped out to bring all the food outside where the table was set for everyone. Tony took the seat next to Pepper and sat down with Peter but tried to pry Peter from his lap and sit him onto the chair between the two. 

Harley was sitting across from Tony with Morgan next to him and Mike next to her with Alice at the head of the table. It was the very first time all of them were together. The very first time and it was such a beautiful moment. 

Peter sat up on his knees and tried to reach his arms out for Tony but Tony was pushing Peter’s plate in front of him. “It’s time to eat, baby. Take a bite of this.” 

The rest of the family started talking with one another about school and sharing stories with each other. Tony noticed everyone staring at Peter for longer than necessary but he didn’t blame them one bit. 

Everyone was eating their food but Peter so Tony cut up a piece of his and held it out to Peter who took the bite. “You eat, I’m not gonna feed you, lazy bum.” 

Peter smiled at that and then pointed at Tony’s chest. “You’re the lazy bum.” 

Tony gasped at him, pretending to be hurt. “Okay. How about we both eat now.” 

It didn’t take long for everyone else to finish but Peter was still nibbling on his piece of chicken and carrots while he looked around the table and watched everyone carefully. 

Morgan tugged on Harley’s arm once she finished eating. “Can you go swimming with me? But in a bathing suit this time.” 

Harley looked over at Pepper who nodded her head. “Okay. Let’s go get changed.” 

Harley lifted Morgan off the chair who jumped into his arms but as he went to carry Morgan away, she was reaching out for Peter. “And Peter too.” 

“Not tonight, Morg. Pete’s gonna go to bed soon.” Pepper told her, seeing the pout on her face as Harley carried her inside. 

Mike returned from the bathroom and stretched his back out. “Hey, Peter. You didn’t eat much. Are you not hungry?” 

Peter looked up at him and froze. He stared at him for a few moments like a deer caught in headlights before he shook his head and started crawling onto Tony’s lap which Tony was not going to say no to so he took the cuddles but he still had to get Peter to eat more. 

Tony pushed his empty plate out of the way and pulled Peter’s plate in front of him then started cutting up more chicken. “Open your mouth.” 

Peter did as he was told but Pepper was moving into Peter’s empty seat and shaking her head at Tony. “Don’t. Let him feed himself.” Pepper worded to him so Peter couldn’t hear her. 

Tony looked at her with a confused look so she sighed. “Don’t baby him like he did.” She worded to him again just as Peter was gesturing for him to feed him again. 

“Here, Pete. You take the fork.” Tony tried but Peter was shaking his head and letting out little whimpers. 

“Peter, where are your arms?” Alice asked, out of nowhere. Tony waited to see what she would do since she was absolutely amazing with their kids. She was a huge blessing in their life. 

Peter lifted his arm up to show her and she gasped. “Oh! I thought you lost them because your daddy was feeding you. You can feed yourself. Show me how you do it.” 

Peter pushed himself up a bit then grabbed the fork and fed himself, looking at Alice the whole time to see if she was watching. Peter grabbed his cup of apple juice and chugged the whole thing then wiped his mouth and looked at his Grandma. “There. I’m full now.” 

She was smiling at him with the same sparkle in her eye that Pepper had when she looked at him. 

Peter looked away from her to lay his head back on Tony’s chest and sighed. Tony rubbed at his back and then heard Harley and Morgan rushing out. 

“Deep end jumps!” Morgan yelled then jumped into the deep end with Harley jumping in after her. 

Peter lifted his head up and watched the two for a few seconds but Tony was worried that he would want to go swimming with them in fear that he was going to feel left out so Tony stood up, lifting Peter up higher in his arms. 

“We’ll go sit closer to the pool. They’ll only be in for a little bit and then go to bed.” Tony told him as he dragged a pool chair out so he could sit with Peter in it, manoeuvring both their bodies to get comfortable. 

Back at the table, Pepper, her mom and dad started clearing the table while Tony sat with Peter. “How is he, Pepper?” 

Pepper grabbed a bunch of plates and followed her mom inside. “He’s adjusting. It’s off and on with good days and bad days. Today was… probably one of the worst but… it ended happily. Which is all that matters.” 

Pepper’s dad was walking in front of Pepper to have her full attention. “Did that man hurt him? Did he lay a finger on that baby boy?” 

“No dad. It wasn’t like that, I promise you.” Pepper shut her eyes and braced herself on the kitchen counter. “He… his kidnapper lied to him his whole life, led him to believe lies his whole entire life. But… I already told you guys all that.” 

Alice rubbed Pepper’s back. “Tell us about him. He was so quiet tonight. We didn’t get to see his beautiful personality that you tell us about.” 

Pepper smiled and looked outside at Tony. She couldn’t see Peter from her angle but she knew he was there. “He’s amazing. He has so much personality that bursts through a little more every day. He’s exactly like his father. Him and Tony are twins in every way, I swear. Oh, and don’t even get me started on him and Morgan. Those two…” Pepper shook her head fondly at the two. 

“They are always up to something. We can’t leave them alone together for too long because last time we did, they attempted to make a cake all over the floor.” Pepper laughed at the memory from a few days ago. That was a fun day. 

Then she rubbed her eyes when she thought about the bad times. “He um… he used to, as of even yesterday, ask us to see him. He still called him dad and I could see it was breaking Tony down so much. Everytime he called that man who he claimed loved him, dad, it shattered Tony a little bit more each time.” 

“I Uh, maybe after today it will be different but Natasha, you know Natasha, she said that because of today, Peter making the choice himself to leave Steve and close him out by understanding that Steve may have not actually loved him or that Peter himself doesn’t love him, I don’t know exactly but Natasha will talk to us soon, anyways… that’s hard for him and since he cried for him everyday, almost everyday, now he’s trying to deal with his emotions in a way he doesn’t know how so he’s crying over unimportant things.” Pepper thought back to upstairs just a few hours ago. 

“When we were upstairs, he was crying because he sat on the other side of the car on the way back. And then refused to put his underwear on because I picked up his dirty socks.” 

“It’s all an adjustment, just like you said. It’ll be okay now because you have him.” Alice hugged Pepper tightly. “I always knew he would come back to you one day.” 

Pepper pulled away and wiped her tears then chuckled. “Yeah because it wouldn’t have been fair to Tony to have no daddy’s boy while I had two.” 

Her mom laughed along with her but shook her head. “Yeah but that’s not all, it’s because the love you had for him was so strong and everyday that it passed it kept getting stronger and stronger and all that love had to go somewhere.” 

Pepper couldn’t stop the sob from escaping her mouth. She nodded her head and started making her way back outside. “Yeah, let’s clean this up later and go see him.” 

She walked outside and looked down at Peter who was passed out in Tony’s arms. She dragged a chair up to be close to them. “Look at our baby. He’s ours.” 

Tony didn’t say anything. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Peter. 

“How um, how long has he been sleeping for?” Pepper leaned her head against Tony’s shoulder at the same time as Peter stretched, making a little cooing sound. 

“Um…” Tony looked down at Peter and smiled. “Um, like ten minutes.” 

“Alright. I’m gonna go grab a blanket from inside.” Pepper said and then got up to get it when not even a minute later, her mom was sitting down and looking at Peter. 

“He’s beautiful, Tony. Look at that.” Alice observed and reached out to cup Peter’s cheek in her hand. “He’s so handsome.” 

Tony couldn’t agree more. He couldn’t wait to watch Peter grow up into the most beautiful human inside and out. “Yeah. I can’t wait for you to see his little personality.” 

Alice nodded. “Pepper told me he’s just like you.” 

“Ohh, yeah, well… he’s got a lot more from your daughter.” Tony knew he had a lot of bad traits in him that hopefully will not be passing down onto his kids. 

“I’m not so sure about that. Stop being so hard on yourself for who you used to be. You’re a different man now. You’re a father and that’s the most important thing.” Alice made sure that Tony was looking at him when she spoke. “Plus you make a hell of a couple good looking kids.” 

Tony tried not to laugh too hard but she wasn’t wrong. “What can I say.” 

Alice smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to Peter’s face, lingering a lot longer and then kissing Tony’s cheek and standing up to go put her feet in the pool to be with Morgan and Harley. 

Pepper walked out a few minutes later with a blanket and wrapped it around Peter, joining them on that beautiful night. 

Tony looked down at Peter and made sure that he was still sleeping before he leaned his head against Pepper’s, feeling a smile spread across his face at what he was about to tell her. 

“Upstairs, while I was getting Peter ready, he called me dad. He called me dad, Pep.” Tony whispered to her to not wake Peter up but then she was spinning her head to look at him. 

“What?! No, are you serious? Oh my gosh.” Pepper covered her mouth with her hand but Tony could still see the smile in her eyes. 

He nodded his head, feeling his eyes burn with happy tears again. “Yes. He did. It was quiet but… he still did and I’m taking it.” 

“Oh my gosh. What a beautiful way to end the day. I love him so much.” Pepper leaned her head back against Tony’s shoulder so they could both look down at Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter, I said in the beginning that Peter acts younger in this fic so he’ll start to act younger now as he’s healing and trying to come to terms with what his life is and he he is now. Also I’m not a child psychologist or anything like that do I don’t know exactly how Peter would have reacted to that but I can imagine it would be extremely hard for him. 
> 
> However I have worked with kids for almost four years now and I know that when they can’t express their feelings or don’t necessarily know what they’re feeling, they will start whining and crying over non important things like Peter was doing so I’m trying to think how Peter would react in that type of situation with the best of my unprofessional knowledge 
> 
> Here’s Peppers parents. From Meet The Fockers : 
> 
> https://www.slantmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2004/12/meetthefockers.jpg


	14. And if I cry, I’ll cover my ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys believe it’s already November?? Where did the year go honestly, I feel like this year has been five years in one but also two months long, if that makes any sense

Tony and Pepper were so proud of Peter’s progress. 

Since their stressful day yesterday, Peter had yet to have another tantrum about nothing in particular. Natasha had told them that it was going to last for a few days but so far it was afternoon the next day and not one tear from anyone. 

As much as Tony wanted to believe that it wasn’t going to happen again, he knew he would be ignorant to think that. It was bound to happen again but they were trying to not walk on eggshells around Peter because that will not help with him adjusting and healing with their family. 

Tony watched from a distance as Peter bonded with his grandparents. He could see the genuine smile on all of their faces and the way Peter was telling them a rather funny story. 

He wanted to walk over and join them but he knew it was important for Peter to get one on one time with them since he missed out on it for his whole life. 

Pepper walked up behind him and hugged him from behind. “Hey. What’re you doing?” 

“Watching Peter with your parents while I wash these dishes.” Tony answered, not taking his eyes away from them. Peter was wearing his life jacket but sitting outside of the pool while the two of them stood in the shallow end and chatted with him. 

“I’m glad he’s comfortable around them. I thought it was going to take some time but it barely took a day.” Pepper let go of him to grab a water bottle from the fridge. 

Tony hummed. “Yeah well, it helps that he was already making progress with us.” Tony looked up and saw Peter making a run for the house which alarmed Tony. “Oh, here he comes.” 

He shut the tap off and grabbed a dish towel to dry his hands as Peter ran into the house, dripping wet. “I need to go poo!” 

Pepper immediately went to go help him with his life jacket and wet bathing suit in the bathroom as Tony laughed at the situation and dried down the floors. He thought about how they were so lucky to get Peter back at this age and not any older. 

It would have been so hard on them all if they got Peter back when he was nineteen or twenty or something like that since he would be old enough to make his own decisions and legally he wouldn’t have to see them if he didn’t want to. 

He would also have gone off to college most likely which meant they wouldn’t ever see him. 

They were lucky. 

Tony finished drying the floors all the way to the hallway bathroom and then looked inside to see Pepper trying to get Peter out of his life jacket so he could finish. “That’s something I’ve never seen before.” 

Peter looked up at him. “Seen what?” 

“Someone sitting on the toilet wearing a life jacket.” Tony chuckled and heard someone walk inside so he looked over to see Alice walking in. 

“Is he okay?” She asked but not making a move to walk into the house since she was dripping wet. 

“Yeah. He’s fine.” Tony swung the rag over his shoulder and went to go finish up with the dishes that he had to do before he joined everyone outside to have some fun. 

Pepper walked out and placed the life jacket on the floor. “I’m gonna go change into my bathing suit, Tony. He’s almost done.” 

He looked over at her and put the last dish on the drying rack. He used to hate doing the dishes but now he found it almost therapeutic. He got a few minutes each day to do nothing but think. He would think about anything in particular, not just about Peter but about anything which really helped to calm him down. 

“Um, Tony? It’s all rolled up.” Tony looked over at Peter, feeling a bit sad that Peter hadn’t called him dad like he did last night. He had his bathing suit rolled up around his ankles which was definitely a con about having swimming trunks. 

“Did mom do this? She’s not as good as me since I’m a swimming trunks expert.” Tony smirked at Peter who giggled a bit which made him mentally first bump himself. “Step out for a sec so I can unroll them.” 

Peter used Tony’s shoulder for support and then watched him struggle to get it unrolled. “That’s because Pepper pulled them down too hard.” 

“It’s alright. Dad will fix it.” Tony added but then Peter was squeezing by him to grab his life jacket. “Wait till you get these on, bud.” 

“But I need to go swimming.” Peter got his life jacket on and then looked outside to see that Morgan was getting a purple octopus that was attached to the hose so it started spraying water everywhere. “I wanna go in that!” 

“Okay, just wait a second because you still have to put your bathing suit on. Come back here.” Tony stood up and followed Peter towards the backdoor where Alice was opening in and walking in. “Just one second, Peter.” 

“What does Morgan have?” Peter asked his grandma as he held onto the wall for support. 

“It’s an octopus sprinkler.” 

“I knew it!” Peter banged weakly on the glass, itching to just get outside and jump in the water with her. 

Tony struggled to pull the tight, wet bathing suit up but he eventually got it and opened the back door. “Take off your life jacket because you don’t need it!” He called out but Peter didn’t hear him or chose not to listen. “Whatever.” 

“He’s so cute, Tony.” Alice patted his back as she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. 

He agreed with that. Peter had this way about him. He had this charm that made you want to hug him and never let him go, sometimes even during one of his tantrums. “He is. I’m so proud of him.” 

Tony didn’t want to waste anymore time, he went upstairs to go change and then joined everyone outside. Peter and Morgan were running in the sprinkler. It was the first time it was being set up since they got it at the beginning of the summer but never used it for some reason. 

Now was the perfect time to use it. 

.  
.  
.

Peter didn’t know how to bring it up. 

He wanted to get Tony and Pepper alone to ask them but everyone was always around him all hours of the day and so he didn’t get a chance yet but the time was ticking since he was getting really tired. 

Peter was sitting on the floor in the living room while everyone chatted about nothing interesting. He was helping Morgan build some sort of Disney lego set that was way too babyish in his opinion but he liked to help out. 

When he saw Tony stand up and go into the kitchen, Peter was standing up and running after him. He didn’t know why he was so nervous to ask but he was. “Um… I wan-I wanna ask you something important.” 

Tony looked down at Peter and sensed that he was stressed about something but he knew something was a bit off after they ate dinner and washed up. “Yeah? You can ask me. Do you want mom to come too?” 

Peter lifted his hand up to his mouth to chew on his fingers as he looked over at Pepper who was already watching the two. Tony pulled his hand away from his mouth to stop that bad habit. 

“Um… yeah.” 

“Okay. We’ll go into the other room.” Tony silently gestured for Pepper to follow them into one of the rooms across the hall, away from the rest of the family so Peter could ask them. 

Tony sat down on the couch with Pepper next to him and then Peter sat down on the opposite couch. Tony watched him intently. He was picking at a string on the couch with his back practically facing them. “You can talk to us, bud. What is it?” 

Peter turned a bit and slid down so he could sit on the carpet and grab the candle on the table. “Umm… well, umm…” Peter spun the candle around on the table, too scared to begin. 

“Did you wanna ask us something?” Pepper asked him gently, trying not to scare him off. 

Peter looked up at her. “Uh huh. I just um… I just wanted to ask if um, well, I have this friend and his name is Ned. He’s my best friend.” 

Tony now had an idea of where this conversation was going. He was a bit nervous before. 

“And… and Ned’s my friend but I haven’t seen him or-or talked to him in like, since I came here and I was just wondering if I could see him?” Peter looked up at both of his parents, unconsciously holding his breath in fear of what they would say. 

A smile was appearing on both of their faces. “Oh. Of course. You’ve spoken about Ned before so he’s your best friend?” 

Peter nodded his head at Tony and then sat up on the couch again. “Uh huh. And we were supposed to go on the lake together to go swimming near um, I forget but then I wasn’t allowed.” Peter frowned. 

“You can see him, baby. Do you know his number?” Pepper asked him since they needed some way to contact this kid. 

“Um… on my old phone that was left on the bus.” Peter pushed himself up with his legs to jump on the couch and then did it again. 

“Do you know his last name?” Tony asked, knowing it would take him minutes to find the boy. 

“Leeds. L-e-e-d-s. And he has a mom and a dad and two older sisters.” Peter told them, getting excited that he might possibly be seeing his friend soon. 

Tony was already pulling out his phone to track down the boy. He’s sure that Ned is aware of the fact that Peter is with his real family and that his whole life was a lie since it was all over the news and still is for the most part. 

After Steve got caught, Tony had finally given a recent picture of Peter to the news since they had been asking for one since the day they got Peter back. The picture was a close up of Peter sitting outside and eating a hot dog in his life jacket but it was impossible to see the background of where they were. 

“I’ll find him for you, Pete, and I’ll let you know tomorrow since right now, it’s movie time.” Tony pocketed his phone and leaned across the table to ruffle Peter’s hair. 

He was glad that Peter was asking them for things since that was huge progress, right? It was a step in the right direction anyways and that’s what was most important. 

Half way through the movie, Peter had somehow ended up cuddled between his grandparents on the couch. He was leaning against Alice with her hand running her fingers through his hair and his feet on Mike’s lap. 

Tony was a bit jealous since Peter wasn’t lying with him but he was happy over anything. It was so beautiful to witness since it just showed the progress that they were making in such a short time and Pepper’s parents were being amazing help which was wonderful. 

By the time the movie ended, Peter was passed out along with Morgan and his grandpa and only two out of those three people could be carried up to bed. 

Even as the credits rolled through, the family stayed seated and no one made a move to get up since they were enjoying the moment too much. 

One more day until Morgan and Harley we’re back at school all day which meant no more late nights and then Pepper’s parents were going back home at the end of the week so their time was limited and precious. 

After a few minutes passed, Peter was stretching and kicking Mike in the stomach which had him waking up rather rudely. “I’m up. What?” He rubbed a hand over his face and looked around him before settling back down. “Oh, great movie. Loved that ending.” 

“Mike, you fell asleep before Peter and Morgan did.” Alice smacked him on the arm, causing Harley to chuckle from beside Morgan. 

“I’ll take him from you now.” Tony stood up, stretched and went to bend down to grab Peter but Alice was shaking her head at him like a child who’s about to get their toy taken from them. 

“No. Just let me cuddle with him for a little bit longer.” Alice refused to give Peter up yet. She was still trying to make up seven years of not being with her youngest grandson. 

“Mom, he has to go to bed.” Pepper told her but her mom was waving her off. 

“He is sleeping, isn’t he?” 

Tony shrugged. There was nothing he could do about that now besides carry Morgan up just to give her a few more minutes with Peter. 

He lifted Morgan up and went to go upstairs with Pepper following behind him. “They better not steal Peter from us during the week while the rest of the kids are at school. I won’t have it.” 

Tony chuckled but he agreed. It was everyone who went years without Peter and they were his parents so they were the ones hurting over everyone else. “Well, we’ll all get one on one time with him. I think that’s important but it’s also important for Peter to decide who he wants to be with.” 

“I know. We’re not him.” Pepper replied but they tried not to talk about Steve. It was done with. They had Peter back and although the whole legal aspects weren’t done or even close to being done, they had Peter back and that’s all that mattered. 

“Do you think your mom will let me take him up to bed?” Tony asked, laying Morgan on her bed and changing the subject. 

Pepper shut the curtains and turned the nightlight on as she thought about it. “Maybe. I don’t know but that’s not up to her, we’re his parents.” 

As much as they loved Pepper’s parents, they were a bit of a child hog and especially at a time like this, it was frustrating. It was always nice to receive help from them but they would take the kids and come back with them five hours later. 

For Peter’s safety right now, they couldn’t allow that so they were hogging Peter all to themselves now. 

After Morgan was tucked in, the two of them headed back downstairs but they heard the very recognizable laugh that came from a certain ten year old boy. 

When the two of them rounded the counter, they saw Peter sitting up on his knees between the two of them and holding his hands up to match up with Mike. 

“Mom, dad.” Pepper said, annoyed as she stepped out to look at the two and Peter who was now apparently wide awake. 

“What? We didn’t wake him. He woke up himself.” Alice shrugged her shoulders and looked between Tony and Pepper without a care in the world. 

There goes the night. “Okay. Time for bed, Peter.” Tony held his hand out for Peter who gave him a dirty look and shook his head. “Yes. It’s bedtime.” 

“What time is it?” Peter asked him, trying to find a way to get out of going to sleep. 

“It’s almost midnight so we have to all get into bed before then.” Tony grabbed Peter's hand but he pulled away. 

“No.” 

“Peter.” 

“Nooooo!” 

“Your sister is sleeping, shh.” Pepper walked over to warn him and then looked at her mom who had refused to let Tony take Peter up. 

“I didn’t know it was like this.” She said, still not feeling bad. 

Harley stood up and grabbed his phone. “I’m out. Goodnight, grandma. Goodnight, grandpa.” 

Peter looked over at Harley who was already making his way towards the stairs. “And me?” Peter waited for Harley to say something back but he didn’t. “And me too, Harley?” 

Silence. 

Peter looked up at Tony and Pepper with a look of betrayal on his face before bursting out in tears. As much as Tony felt bad for Peter, at least he was crying about something else now. “He probably didn’t hear you. Let’s go up to his bedroom to say goodnight.” 

Peter took Tony’s hand and followed him up while Pepper looked at him, silently speaking to each other before going into the kitchen to heat up warm milk which was what they did on nights that were hard which was mostly every night. 

Tony and Peter walked upstairs and Peter went to barge into his bedroom but Tony stopped him. “Knock first, Pete.” 

Peter knocked on the door and waited for a response. Tony always believed that knocking on his kids' bedroom doors before entering was very important. He never got that kind of privacy and respect growing up so it was important for him to give that to his kids. 

It was their bedrooms, their comfort zone and safety space that was theirs and theirs only. He even knocks on Morgan’s door before he walks in and although Peter doesn’t play in his room by himself yet, he will knock on his bedroom door too. Even though both of his youngest kids couldn’t care less about privacy and having their own space. 

If how they roamed freely around the upstairs before or after bathing was anything to go by. 

Either way, Tony always knocked before entering a bedroom. Especially Harley right now. He knew Pepper made that mistake once. 

Harley was telling them to come in so Peter opened the door and wiped at his eyes. “You didn’t say goodnight to me.” Peter cried out and walked over to his bed and climbed on it. 

Harley put his shirt on and looked between Tony and his younger brother for a few moments. “Oh, sorry, Pete. Goodnight. Would you um, like me to tuck you in?” 

Peter sighed and pulled back Harley’s blankets so he could climb in. “Yeah. I’m gonna sleep here tonight.” 

“No, Peter. You have your own bedroom. Let’s go.” Tony grabbed Peter off the bed but he thankfully didn’t fight him. “Night, Harls.” 

“Night, dad. Goodnight, Peter.” Harley emphasized, waving bye to the both of them. 

Tony shut his bedroom door and went to go walk towards Peter’s bedroom but he was pointing at Morgan’s room. “Wait! I have to say goodnight to Morgan first.” 

“She’s already sleeping, Pete.” Tony told him and continued to walk in the opposite direction, hoping that he didn’t cause any tears. 

“I’ll wake her up then.” 

Tony looked at Peter. “So you’re gonna wake her up, say goodnight and put her back to sleep?” 

Peter nodded his head as if it were the most logical idea ever but Tony continued to take him into his bedroom. “No-” 

“Shh, it’s time to sleep. How about tomorrow you can tuck her into bed with us.” Tony suggested as he placed Peter on his bed and wondered where Pepper went. It doesn’t take that long to warm up milk. 

He covered Peter with the blankets and pushed him back down when he tried to get up as they waited for Pepper to come in which she did a few minutes later. “I couldn’t find the other water bottle so this one’ll be fine.” 

She handed it to Peter who took it and immediately shut his eyes to help himself relax. It was nice to know that this got Peter to sleep faster but he couldn’t depend on it every night since it was a bad habit to have considering that he falls asleep before he can brush his teeth after. 

It was a comfort for him and a lazy way for the parents to get him to sleep which shouldn’t be continuing for much longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo..... Ned’s coming soon!


	15. I swear it won’t be me again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter edited for like a week and I forgot to post it soooo ooppsss!!! I’ve recently had a bunch of new ideas for this fic which I’m really excited about but now I just need to find the time and energy to write it

“Dad, can you take me out driving later?” Harley asked. He got his license a few months ago but he still had to have a driver in the car with him while he drove until he got his full license in a few months. 

“Really, Harley? I have Morgan in the pool and Pete’s gonna be out any second to go swimming.” Tony felt bad but Harley had picked the worst possible time. 

“How can I get my license if I don’t even practice?” He asked Tony, hating how his dad wasn’t giving him the slightest bit of attention. 

Tony sighed and turned to him. “Look, I’ll take you out to practice after dinner today. That way, mom can do baths and bedtimes while you and I go out and we can stay out for as long as you want, okay?” 

A faint smile was appearing on Harley’s lips. “Alright. That sounds cool, thanks dad.” 

“Yeah.” Tony ruffled his hair and then watched Peter run out of the house with a thick smear of sunscreen on him. Pepper was always the best at putting sunscreen on the kid’s since she does it in the bathroom to get every spot and then puts the bathing suit on after while he just slaps some on the face and shoulders, ignoring the rest of the bodies. 

“Peter, Wait like five minutes for it to absorb into your skin before you go into the pool.” Pepper warned him as she walked out in her clothes. 

Tony frowned at her. “I thought you were going swimming?” 

“Nope. I gotta do some work on my computer.” She sighed sadly about the fact but it was fine since she didn’t have to go into work today. 

“So, I’m taking Harley out driving later tonight meaning you’re doing bath times and bedtimes with your parents.” Tony felt bad, he would try to get home before bedtimes since he knew how hard that could be with Peter and Morgan together but he needed to give his older son some attention. 

It was hard since they were giving mostly all of their attention to Peter for obvious reasons plus he was still young and needed help with certain things, or chose to receive help with certain things that he would just need encouragement and supervision for but Tony and Pepper weren’t complaining after so many missed out years. 

As well as Morgan who did need help with a lot of things because of her age and so Harley was old enough to bathe, eat, and get ready for bed himself. 

Tony had to give him one on one time another way. 

“Alright. It’ll be fine. I know you won’t be here all the time for our bedtime routine and neither will I so we have to learn how to do it ourselves eventually plus it’ll help to have my parents here.” Pepper knew that, it’s just that everything went a lot smoother with Tony’s help. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and left to go grab her laptop. 

Tony turned around and saw Peter standing by the pool as he watched Morgan swim and his heart melted with how he was waiting so patiently. “You can go in now, Pete.” 

He watched Peter excitedly run off to grab his life jacket and then he was running and jumping into the deep end with so much confidence. He used to hesitate and think about it before jumping in and now he was just going for it. Pretty soon he was going to be swimming without his life jacket. 

Tony wasn’t ready for that. He still wanted to teach Peter how to swim because he wanted to teach his son stuff but he didn’t want him to get older. He wanted to keep him at this age forever. 

To just freeze this moment in time and live it every single day. 

Too bad he couldn’t invent a time machine. 

Tony sat himself down on the chairs as he watched his kids have their fun. He didn’t want to join in since he was enjoying watching them way too much. 

It was so hard for Morgan and Harley to really bond because of their ten year age gap. It had always been Morgan annoying Harley to play with her and then he would only give in so she could shut up, not because he wanted to it because he was enjoying it. 

But Peter on the other hand, he genuinely enjoyed playing with Morgan and most of her toys. Especially the water toys, those two were on the path to becoming the best of friends. 

It also helped that their age gap was close together. 

“Dad?” Harley called for him and then came outside with his Grandpa following behind him. “So grandpa and grandma need to go to the grocery store and they said I can drive them if you say yes?” 

“Oh, are you just going from here to the store then back home?” Tony asked him. He was confident with Harley’s driving skills but he liked it better when he was sitting in the passenger seat. 

“Yes, Tony. He will be staying the speed limit and no crazy driving.” Mike told him seriously which made Tony smile because he was definitely being a protective father. 

“Alright. Be careful.” Tony warned him then watched the two leave with a huge smile on Harley’s face. He was also happy that Pepper’s parents were doing the grocery shopping, he hated doing that. 

Pepper walked out after them and walked over to the edge of the pool. “Are you guys hungry?” 

Both of them ignored her and thought it was the funniest thing ever. “Hey, earth to Peter and Morgan. Are you guys hungry?” 

Peter was attempting to climb up on one of the floats but wasn’t able to because of his life jacket getting in the way but he wasn’t giving up. A true Stark. “I am!” 

“Me too!” Morgan yelled and got out of the pool to grab another pool float from the shed. 

“Okay. Lunch will be ready in twenty minutes.” Pepper announced and then disappeared back inside to get lunch started while Tony stood up and went to go talk with the two of them for a bit. 

He put his feet into the pool and set on the edge and then Morgan was swimming over to the edge to set on his feet. “What are you guys playing?” 

“We’re playing shark attack and-” 

“No! I wanna tell him the rest.” Peter whined and swam over to the two of them and tried to pull Morgan off of Tony’s feet. 

“Stop it, Peter. That’s not nice.” Tony grabbed Peter’s hand to stop him from yanking Morgan’s water wings.

“But I wanted to tell you.” Peter gave Morgan a dirty look so she stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Then tell me.” 

“Okay. So we’re playing shark attack and-and um, over there is the rescue centre but I’m the shark and then when I catch Morgan then I have to be the coast guard and bring her onto the shore. And um… and then I’m the doctor too.” Peter explained to him excitedly to be sharing the information with Tony while Morgan nodded her head along with Peter. 

“But daddy. Daddy? Daddy?” Morgan tapped on his leg so Tony turned to her. 

“Yeah?” 

“And then it’s my turn after to be the shark and then I have to catch Petey and take him to the doctors.” Morgan explained to him again. 

“Oh wow-” 

“Yeah but and then,” Peter tapped on his other leg to get Tony’s attention and it was making him smile. “And then um, after we’re both the sharks then we can change the game.” 

“That sounds like a lot of fun.” Tony reached down to ruffle both of their wet heads which had them both swimming away from him. As he watched on, he assumed that Morgan started off as the shark but then switched about halfway through. 

When Pepper came out with the food, Tony stood up to help her set the table but he couldn’t go inside since he had to watch the kids so he had her do all the work. 

“Morgan, Peter, lunch is ready so get out and grab your towels.” Pepper yelled at them as she carried the juice bottles out. “I’m sorry, I can’t sit and eat because I gotta get to work but I made a cheeseburger for you with spices and the kids have it but without spices. And their drinking juice in these cups because last time they split and ants and wasps came so they drink in these.” 

Peter ran over first and reached for his cup to start chugging it with Morgan following behind him. “Life jackets off. You’re dripping everywhere.” 

Peter was staring at Tony while he chugged his drink and then handed his bottle to Tony to fill up. “More.” 

“More what?” Tony asked, trying to get Peter to start using his manners which he was lacking. 

“More juice.” 

“No, I mean what do you say? Please…” 

“Yeah.” 

“Peter,” Tony wanted to laugh but he couldn’t. “Say can I have more juice please.” 

Peter took off his life jacket and stared at Tony. “Can I have more juice please?” 

“Yes, you can.” Tony poured Peter more juice just as Morgan was reaching across the table for her food and dripping all over Peter’s. “Morgan, Wait. Look you just made Peter’s fries all soggy.” 

“Oh. I’m sorry, Petey.” The six year old puffed out her bottom lip and gave Peter her best puppy dog eyes. 

Out of all his kids, Peter had the best puppy dog eyes and he always had. And most likely always will. There was just something about his curly brown hair and big brown eyes that added to that look. 

“It’s okay.” Peter patted her on the head and picked up his soggy fries to set them aside. 

The whole sight was too cute for Tony to handle. He wished that he could lock these memories in his brain and replay it over and over again in his mind. 

They continued to eat and talk about what they were going to do after lunch which surprisingly didn’t involve swimming but jumping on the trampoline which all Tony could see was someone throwing up. 

He heard the phone ringing after he was almost finished eating so he looked over at the two. They were extremely slow to eat which wasn’t new information to him. “Guys, I have to go answer the phone so I’ll be right back. Do not get up from your seats.” 

They watched him go inside and then returned to their conversation. “And the bug was huge. Plus it’s guts were yellow.” Morgan broke apart her fry as if she was breaking apart the bug. 

“That’s not nice. You shouldn’t be killing bugs like that, you know.” Peter reached across the table to shove a grape in his mouth. 

Morgan shrugged. “The bug was a bully. He was killing all the other tinier bugs.” 

“Well… then maybe that was fine. Maybe we can dig up worms later.” Peter suggested and ate another grape but before he could start chewing on it, it slid down his throat. 

He tried to take in a breath but he couldn’t so he tried to cough but he wasn’t able to do that either. 

Morgan watched as Peter started making weird noises. “What’s wrong? Petey?” 

Peter grabbed onto his throat and struggled to take in a breath of air but nothing was coming in. He started to feel his head start to spin from lack of oxygen and his vision started to spot. 

“Peter?” Morgan watched as Peter’s face started to turn blue and she started to scream at the top of her lungs because Peter wasn’t responding to her. “Daddy?! Help! Peter’s dying! Help! Somebody help my brother!” 

Tony was running outside in less than a second. He dropped the phone, not even caring about who was on the other end and raced outside. He heard Morgan screaming bloody murder and saying that Peter was dying which should never ever be said. 

He ran outside and immediately looked towards the pool, thinking that Peter somehow fell in but when he didn’t see a body floating, he looked over at Morgan who was standing on the chair and screaming at the top of her lungs while Peter sat next to her, his face turning blue. 

He wasted no time in rushing over to him because every second counted. If Peter didn’t get air into his lungs soon, the brain would start to shut down and there was no turning back from that. 

Tony yanked Peter up from his chair with his body going limp against him. 

He tried to open Peter’s mouth to see what he was choking on but he couldn’t see anything so he turned him onto his back to start smacking his back roughly to unlodge whatever was stuck in his throat. 

After a few hits and still no sound from Peter, he knew time was ticking and he wasn’t up to par on his Heimlich maneuver which he was regretting right about now but that thought wasn’t running through his mind. 

What he was doing next, he barely had time to think about before he was opening Peter’s mouth and sticking his finger down to grab whatever was down there. 

When he felt it, he didn’t want to feel relief too soon since Peter had no oxygen for about a minute now. He knew that brain cells started to die after a minute of no oxygen. 

Tony started counting in his head. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7… 

Just then, he managed to pull the lodged piece of food up and then he listened as Peter took in a huge gasp of air followed by brutal sobbing but that was a good sound. He loved that sound. 

“It’s okay. Keep coughing.” Tony rubbed at his back and held Peter up since he wasn’t making any move to stand up by himself. 

Peter was coughing and crying loudly but Tony wanted to encourage that. For the first time, he looked over and noticed that Pepper had been watching the whole time while Morgan continued to scream in the background. 

Pepper was on her knees and sobbing into her hand while she watched on. Tony ignored the two of them and focused on Peter who was still taking in raspy breaths of air. 

Tony stood up fully and picked Peter up then walked over to one of the chairs to sit down. He was no longer blue but he was still rather pale. Sickly pale and that concerned him. 

Pepper stood up and wiped Peter’s face while still giving him space. “I-I called 911. I-is he okay?” 

Tony tried to sit Peter up but his head was falling back every time he did. Just as he went to answer her, he looked over to see paramedics running into the backyard with a defibrillator and that terrified Tony because they hadn’t known if Peter was still choking or not and if his heart had stopped beating in the process. 

“How old is he?” One of the parametrics kneeled in front of Tony who had Peter in his lap and asked. Pepper moved aside to let him assist. 

“He’s ten. He-” 

“How long was he without oxygen for?” The same man asked and the amount of time terrified Tony. 

“A minute. Maybe a minute and a half.” Tony answered and felt Peter try to move away from the strange man in front of him. That was a good sign, right? 

Another paramedic was walking over with an oxygen mask. “What’s his name?” 

“Peter.” 

“Hi Peter. I’m gonna put this on your face to help you get some oxygen into your lungs and help you calm down, okay?” When he went to move forward with the oxygen mask, Peter weakly tried to turn his head away. 

“It’s okay, Pete. Daddy’s here but you have to let them help you.” Tony held his hand on the sides of Peter’s head to let the man put the oxygen mask onto Peter and then was grabbing a light to shine it in Peter’s eyes a few times. 

“Pass me the EKG.” The paramedic held his hand out and then was pressing wires onto Peter’s chest and his arm to monitor his electrical activity of the heart. 

In the whole commotion, Tony realized that Morgan had stopped crying and when he looked over, Pepper was holding her in her arms and rocking her side to side with her back turned so Morgan couldn’t see anything. 

Tony had to move his arm from across Peter’s stomach because more wires were being placed around him and hanging down. He felt Peter’s breathing start to settle down and heard his cries start to stop a bit but he didn’t want them to stop because crying meant he was alive and okay. 

“That’s good. The colour is coming back to his face. Forty bpm. I wanna get that up.” The paramedic attached something onto Peter’s finger and was standing up. “I wanna take him to the hospital to get a CT scan to make sure everything is okay. His heart rate is a bit slow and he’s showing very little signs of his surroundings.” 

Tony felt his own heart drop. No. What, he thought things were okay now. He thought everything was okay. 

“W-what does that mean? Is this going to affect him?” Tony asked because after everything, he couldn’t have Peter be a vegetable. That wasn’t the life he deserved after everything they did to get him back. 

“Most likely he is in shock. Once we get a CT scan, we will know more.” The paramedic told Tony and reached his arms out for Peter. “Can I take you from your daddy now? He’ll be right here but I need to put you on that bed right behind me.” 

Tony waited for Peter’s reaction but he just stared up at the man which terrified him. Peter was lifted out of his lap but once he was, he heard Peter start to cry again but that was a good sign. That had to be a good sign. 

“Oh my baby.” Pepper ran over to Tony and cried out. “Stay with him. I’ll-I’ll come when my parents get back.” 

Tony pressed a quick kiss to Pepper’s cheek and followed Peter into the ambulance, trying so hard not to cry and to reassure Peter that he was going to be okay. 

Once they were on their way, one of the paramedics that were sitting in the back with Peter started to run simple tests. He pulled out a clipboard and leaned closer to Peter who looked away from Tony and at the man. 

“Hi. Can you tell me your name?” He asked and such a simple question terrified Tony. “Do you know your name?” 

“Peter.” Peter whispered after a few long, torturous moments. 

“That’s good, Peter. And how old are you?” 

Peter looked down at his hands and held up ten fingers, making everyone smile at the innocent gesture. 

“Do you know who this is, Peter?” He asked, pointing at Tony. After a few seconds of nothing, he asked again. “Who is he?” 

Tony held his breath. Peter probably didn’t know because he was so fucking confused. 

“Daddy.” Peter whispered ever so quietly but it was a lot more to Tony than Peter remembering. He called him daddy. Not directly but he acknowledged him as that. 

“Very good, Peter.” 

The questions continued until they were arriving at the hospital in the trauma centre. “Ten year old male. Deprived of oxygen for a minute and a half. Bpm at forty and no change.” 

“Page Paediatrics and tell them we’re coming up for a CT.” A doctor called out to someone while they rolled Peter away from him. 

“Wait! That’s my kid! That’s my kid.” Tony was held back from going with them. He pushed against the guy but another man held him back. 

“Mr. Stark, your son is in good hands. He will be taken up for a brain scan but you need to wait in the waiting room.” A nurse came upstairs to him but Tony had no more fight left in him. He just wanted to know if his son was going to be okay. 

He couldn’t lose him. He just couldn’t. 

As he was brought into the waiting room, he looked around. There were people in this room who were going to be receiving the worst news of their lives today. Who were going to be leaving with one less person that they arrived with and Tony knew that heartbreak all too well. 

He was not going to have that happen to him again. That was not going to be him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what guys!?! I got accepted into a university in Hawaii!! 
> 
> I applied in September but I didn’t hear back from them so I just assumed that I didn’t get in but I got an acceptance email yesterday afternoon and I’m happy but idkkk if I can go because it’s crazy expensive so yikkkesss!!


	16. When the lights fade out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday the 13th
> 
> Did anything spooky or strange happen to any of you guys today? 
> 
> Nothing happened to me but if I’m reaching a bit, I was at work and I rolled a crayon across the table and it randomly rolled all the way back to me haha

Tony wasn’t sure how long he was sitting there for. 

His heart was breaking into a million pieces all over again. 

He didn’t even realize that Pepper was kneeling in front of him until she was touching him. 

“Tony? Tony, where is Peter? What’s going on? Is-is he okay?” Pepper desperately asked him but Tony wasn’t looking up at her. “Tony. Please.” 

Tony shook his head slightly and looked at her for the first time. “He-I don’t know. I-I couldn’t go with him when-when we got here. Oh god.” 

“Did anyone come out to talk to you?” Pepper asked, moving to sit on the chair next to her husband. She had raced down to the hospital as soon as her parents and Harley got home. She hasn’t told them much, just that Peter had choked on a grape that she later found after Peter was taken away in the ambulance. 

She told them that he was taken to the hospital but that’s all they knew. That’s all she knew. 

“Mr and Mrs. Stark.” Their name was being called and both their heads snapped up to look at the doctor. “My name is Dr. Shepherd and Peter is okay. He is being put into a room but if you guys would walk with me.” 

Before Tony even had the chance to think about it, his legs were forcing him to stand up and follow the doctor. Hearing that Peter was in fact okay, helped to calm his nerves but he didn’t know why they were being brought into a separate room to talk if Peter was okay. 

As soon as they sat down, the doctor began. “Peter’s CT scans came back and I reviewed them and they are perfect. No Cerebral hypoxia damage which is when the brain has no oxygen getting to it.” 

Both parents sighed in relief and grabbed onto each other. 

“His heart rate was very low and concerning when he was brought in but after a few minutes, everything was going back to normal. Everything is functioning the way that it should be.” Dr. Shepherd announced to them and Tony couldn’t hold back the happy tears. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” He reached across the table to grab a kleenex so he could wipe at his eyes. 

“I also brought you in here to talk about Peter’s medical history. I understand what you guys have been going through but Peter does not have a Pediatrician and has not had a checkup in seven years which is very concerning so I would like to set up a date for that. I’m assuming you would be using Dr. Robbins since Morgan has her?” 

“Um,” Pepper wiped her eyes and looked over at Tony. “Yeah. We um, we haven’t gotten around to booking an appointment yet um,” 

“That’s no problem. She isn’t in today but I’ll book an appointment with her for you guys.” Dr. Shepherd wrote something down and then stood up. “Let’s go see your son.” 

Even before they walked into the hospital room, both parents could hear Peter laughing and it was the best sound in the world. 

They walked into the room and found Peter sitting up in bed wearing a hospital gown with monkeys on it and a nurse standing there, making him laugh. 

Peter turned to them and his face lit up even more which was such an amazing feeling to see for the parents. “Hi baby boy. How are you feeling?” Tony asked, sitting on Peter’s hospital bed and pulling him in for a hug. 

“Good, Dr. Shepherd let me pick out my own, it’s called a gown but it looks like a dress.” Peter told them, pulling up the gown to point at the monkeys on it. 

“Wow, baby.” Pepper sat down on the other side and pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek then looked at him with wet, watery eyes. 

“Do you wanna tell your parents about your stickers, Peter?” Dr. Shepherd asked him and then Peter’s eyes were going wide and sticking his arm out. 

“Oh yeah. Dr. Shepherd gave me stickers and let me put them on my arm.” Peter showed both his parents his arm that was covered in stickers. “See, there’s a monkey and it kinda looks like this one on my gown. And… this one, oh and this one. And…” 

“That’s so cool, Peter. I love them all.” Tony wasn’t even looking at the stickers. He was more focused on his son that was alive and not hooked up to a bunch of machines for the rest of his life. 

“I um, I should go get him some clothes from a shop downstairs so we can leave.” Pepper wiped at her eyes and kissed Peter again before turning and leaving. 

“Can we take him home right now?” Tony asked, just to be sure. 

Dr. Shepherd was looking at Peter’s chart but stopped to look up at him. “Yeah. He’s perfectly healthy and ready to go back home.” 

Peter reached up to his dad to get his attention. “And then when I was in the loud machine and goes like bang bang bang, Dr. Shepherd was saying don’t move but then he told me a funny story of-of when he was little and fell into a pond.” 

“Oh wow. That must be a really funny story. Did it make you start laughing?” Tony asked, pulling Peter closer so he could kiss his cheek. 

Peter didn’t have time to answer because Pepper was walking into the room with a bag. “I couldn’t find underwear but I found these cute outfits.” Pepper pulled out a white shirt with a soccer ball on it and grey track pants that had a tiny bear on the butt pocket. 

If there was one thing she was missing was buying clothes for boys. She just gave Harley money and he would go out with his friends to get clothes and she only shopped for girl clothes but now she could start buying boy clothes and she loved that so much. 

“I wanna see.” Peter looked at the outfit while Tony went to pull off his monkey dress so they could leave. 

“Lift your arms.” Peter did then Tony place the gown on the bed and grabbed the shirt to pull the tag off. “No more grapes for you. Ever again.” 

“But I like grapes.” Peter turned to Tony with a pout. 

“We’ll cut them up small.” Pepper concluded. In their whole sixteen years of being parents, none of their kids had ever choked on anything before. “Dr. Shepherd, does this mean that he would be prone to choking? None of our other kids have ever choked on anything before. Knock on wood.” 

“Not necessarily. I think he got too excited and was trying to talk with his mouth full.” Dr. Shepherd turned to Peter who was holding his feet away from Tony and laughing about it. “Is that right, Peter?” 

“Huh?” 

“Make sure to take your time to chew and we don’t chew and speak at the same time, right?” 

Peter looked up at him while Tony finally had the distraction to get his feet through the track pants. “Yeah. Especially grapes.” 

“Stand up, Pete.” Tony pulled Peter up and pulled his pants up the rest of the way. “Now you can go commando all the way home.” 

“What’s commando?” Peter asked Tony with a confused look on his face. 

“It’s when you don’t wear underwear. Let’s go.” Tony picked his barefooted child up and set him on his hip. “Thank you so much, Dr. Shepherd.” 

Tony could not be more grateful for that man who saved his kids life. He couldn’t handle another loss. Not ever again. 

After they said their goodbyes, the parents wanted to get the hell out of the hospital and get home so Tony put Peter into his car seat but moved Morgan’s so he could sit in the back with Peter, a bit too paranoid to take his eyes off of him. 

“I don’t want to go swimming again tonight.” Peter told Tony as he pulled off the stickers on his arm and stuck them onto the door but Tony didn’t say anything. 

“That’s okay. If you don’t want to then you can do something else.” Tony just noticed the time on the car dashboard and saw that it was 5:14pm. Woah. They were at the hospital for a lot longer than he thought but at the same time it felt like days. 

“I wanna play with Morgan.” Peter told Tony and tried to lean forward but his seatbelt stopped him so he sighed and sat back. 

“You can. How about we build a fort in the living room?” The billionaire suggested which had Peter’s jaw dropping and looking over at him. 

Oh, Tony loves this boy so freaking much. 

So there they were, building a fort that had taken over the whole living room. It was huge considering that Pepper had an obsession with blankets and pillows so the house was constantly stocked with hundreds of blankets and pillows. 

Tony didn’t know who was more obsessed, Pepper with her blankets or Morgan with her teddy bears. Although he could add himself to that list with a few things too, such as cars and car parts to tinker around with at his lab in the tower but he hadn’t been in almost a year and didn’t plan on going back anytime soon. 

Harley could also be added into that with his phone although it wasn’t like he collected phones, he was just always on it. He could add Peter for his obsession with ice cream, he didn’t know what his imaginary list was or what the point of it was but, he called Pepper crazy for buying all those blankets but now he was grateful for them. 

Peter squatted down by the fort entrance and pulled the blankets to look inside. “Morgan? What side are you on?” 

“The side near the couch!” Morgan called back to him and Peter went to crawl in but Harley popped his head out, causing Peter to scream which had Pepper freaking out in the kitchen. 

“It’s okay, Pep. He’s a kid. He’s gonna scream but they’re just playing.” Tony tried to reassure her although he blamed himself since he left them unsupervised and outside. He didn’t know if Pepper knew that but he was going to talk to her about it tonight. 

Pepper ran a hand over her face. “I know. It’s just… I’m so on edge. With everything. First Morgan screamed when Peter got stuck in the pool and that wasn’t that scary but today… if it had ended any other way.” 

Tony looked down. It was his fault. Maybe he wouldn’t wait for tonight. “It’s my fault.” 

Pepper was shaking her head but he didn’t see since he was looking down. “No. No, it’s not. I should’ve- I should’ve cut up his food. I-” 

“Pepper.” Tony turned to her and held her hands. “I left.” 

“What? You left?” 

“Today. Outside. I finished and I thought, those two take forever so I’ll have time to quickly go inside and answer the phone. I don’t know how long he was choking for before Morgan started screaming but when I got outside, he was already blue.” Tony let go of Pepper’s hands to look away from her. This was his fault. Saying it out loud was so much worse. 

If Morgan hadn’t started screaming. If she wasn’t paying attention to Peter or if she was frozen with fear, it would have been a lot longer and maybe they would have crossed that point of no return. 

Pepper gently started rubbing Tony’s back. “Okay. What happened, happened and I think this is a huge wake up call for us. I think it’s hard because we went from having two kids, one that was old enough to take care of himself and one that needed help. Now, we have three kids, one that is old enough to take care of himself and two that need help and it’s hard.” 

Tony just nodded his head, agreeing with everything Pepper was saying. 

“We need… we need to have rules for us. For example, never leave Peter and Morgan unsupervised while they’re doing things such as… eating and swimming.” Pepper gave an example but Tony still felt like a failure as a father. 

To think that today could have ended so badly. Because of him. It was too much. 

“Stop it.” Pepper ordered. He looked over at her, confused. “Stop thinking about all the ‘what if’s’. I know you are. I’ve seen you do it for seven years straight but we have Peter back. It’s our job-” 

“It’s our job to protect him and keep him safe and I didn’t do that today.” Tony snapped at her but tried to lower his voice. “I- it wasn’t like he just fell off a bike and I wasn’t close enough to catch him. He fu- he choked. And I wasn’t even there.” 

“Tony.” Pepper spoke firmly. “Stop it. It happened. It’s done. Peter is okay. Yes, you left but I know for a fact that you will not be doing that again now. We also can’t start walking on eggshells around him again. I know we still are to some extent and maybe we’ll never stop but you need to stop now. You have five more minutes of this, you can go outside and take a breather or go upstairs or in the basement if you need to but after that, go play with our kids.” 

Tony rubbed at his face and looked in the direction of the fort where he was hearing the constant chatter. “Yep. Okay. You’re right.” 

“I know. Because the longer you worry about this, the more your mind will consume you and the less time you spend with your kids tonight.” Pepper pressed a kiss to his cheek and left the kitchen to go join her kids. 

“I smell some yummy kids that I can eat up.” Pepper announced as she bent down to crawl into the fort. It was just her with the kids now since her parents went on a walk to relax themselves after they saw that Peter was okay when they got back from the hospital. 

She heard Morgan start screaming but it was a happy scream. Pepper headed in that direction. 

“Mommy! Not me!” Morgan laughed and tried to kick her away but Pepper grabbed her ankle and pulled Morgan towards herself. 

“I’ll save you Morgan!” Peter crawled over to Morgan and reached his hand out for her but then Pepper was grabbing him too and pinning him down so he couldn’t get away. “Ahh! It tickles!” 

Pepper would have stopped but she was having way too much fun and she loved hearing her kids giggling. Morgan got away from her first so she went to go get a better grip on Peter but then he was crawling away and disappearing somewhere. 

Peter and Morgan crawled through one of the secret tunnels that they made and only they could fit in but then Tony was on the other end causing them to start screaming and scrambling to get away. 

“Ahhh! Daddy!” Morgan screamed and went to go crawl the other way but Tony grabbed both of the ankles and pulled them back so he could choose which one to attack with tickles. “Ahhh!” 

Morgan was squirming too much and accidentally or not so accidentally, he never knew with her, kicked him in his private baby maker spot so he groaned and let go of them which had both kids crawling away. 

After the pain left, he continued his crawling through the fort which actually turned out massive. He was pretty sure he was lost because he turned three corners and hasn't bumped into anyone yet. 

Just as Tony was about to trick someone into showing themselves, he found Peter squatting in a corner and trying so hard not to laugh but when he saw Tony, he burst out laughing and fell onto his butt. 

“There you are. I’m coming to get you.” Tony started making his way over to a giggling Peter but all of the sudden, Peter’s face dropped and he went serious and then looked scared. 

“Uh oh. I’m peeing myself.” Peter blurred out and looked between his legs then up at Tony. 

Tony thought he was joking at first to try and get away but then he watched as his grey track pants from the hospital were turning a dark grey. He forgot what to do in these situations. 

Once Peter was done, he looked up at him with fear written all over his face. “I’m sorry! It just came out.” 

Pepper crawled her way on the other side of the tunnel and looked at Peter. 

“It’s okay, Pete. It was just an accident.” Tony reassured him and looked over at Pepper because he didn’t really know what to do. 

Peter didn’t move and Tony could practically feel how uncomfortable he was. Morgan peed on him during a flight to Malibu and he didn’t have a change of clothes and that shit got itchy fast. 

“How about you crawl out and go get changed with dad while I clean up this. It’s okay, Peter. It happens to everyone.” Pepper reassured him and then Peter was sitting up a bit and crawling out with Tony. 

Once they got outside the fort, Tony stood up and stretched his back out while he waited for Peter to follow him. 

“Let’s go change you because that’s not comfortable.” Tony started walking towards the stairs and then Peter was grabbing his hand with Tony’s heart melting in the process. 

Once they got upstairs and in Tony’s and Pepper’s bathroom, Tony grabbed some clean underwear and shorts, feeling a bit bad that they didn’t tell Peter to get changed before but he also didn’t ask or just go and do it himself. 

“Take those off.” He told Peter and grabbed some baby wipes then grabbed the wet pants from Peter and tossed them into the laundry bin. “Actually, how about you just go in a quick shower. Just pull your top up and I’ll hold the shower handle.” 

“Am I in trouble now?” Peter asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

Tony didn’t know why Peter thought that. Did he do something to give Peter the impression that he would be mad. “Not at all, Petey. It was an accident. Even if you did it on purpose, I would never be mad. But in the future, don’t do that on purpose.” 

Peter smiled silently but then stopped and continued to look up at him. “What’s-what’s my punishment gonna be?” 

Tony frowned. Punishment? The thought of that man punishing his child for having an accident made him feel sick. “Punishment? You aren’t going to get punished, Peter. You did nothing wrong.” 

Peter looked away shyly. “Well… I don’t want to not be allowed to have fun because I won’t do it again. I promise.” 

Tony sighed. “Peter, you didn’t plan on doing this. That’s why it’s called an accident so you can’t promise not to do it again but if and when you do, mommy and I will never be mad at you.” 

“And no punishment?” Peter wanted to make sure. 

“Did-did Steve punish you?” Tony asked, terrified of the answer and when Peter nodded his head, he felt sick. “What would he do?” 

Peter hesitated and thought about it or debated with himself if he should tell Tony. “Umm… no going outside for a week. Sometimes longer. Because-because he says then it’ll happen again and I can’t be outside when it happens.” 

Tony tried to think of the logic behind that. Steve had wanted any excuse to keep Peter inside the house and so of course he would not let him go outside as punishment. Or maybe he was genuinely terrified of someone seeing Peter wet his pants and somehow tie it to the missing persons report by doing an investigation. 

Either way, Tony had never hated someone so much in his life. 

“Listen to me, Peter, you are not in trouble. You never will be for something like this.” Tony promised him and then got the shower ready before a rash set in from the urine being on his already sensitive skin for too long. 

After he was rinsed off, Tony wrapped a towel around his waist and led him into the bedroom to get changed. 

“Did you just forget to go pee?” Tony asked him, sitting on the bed and waiting for Peter to get dressed. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders and started putting his underwear on. “Maybe I just didn’t feel it.” 

Tony nodded, trying to figure out what caused it. He was making Peter laugh a lot but usually people felt the need first, right? “You didn’t feel that you needed to go pee?” 

Peter slid off the bed to pull his underwear up and grab his shorts. “Um… yeah. I guess.” 

“That’s okay, bud.” Tony would need to tell Pepper but he didn’t know what it could be. Could it be a side effect from what happened today? Maybe the doctors missed something. 

“Can we go play in the fort again?” Peter hopefully asked and there was no way Tony could say no to that beautiful face. 

“Obviously. Let’s go.” 

Morgan was excitedly waiting for Peter to go back into the fort with her so while they were doing that, Tony walked over to Pepper who was putting away the cleaning supplies. “He said he didn’t even know he knew he needed to go pee so I don’t know.” 

Pepper shut the door and turned to him. “I was thinking and I’m pretty sure I’m right, he was having a lot of fun and so he didn’t even think about it. It totally slipped his mind so he just didn’t feel it. Think about it, we’ll be outside and he’ll randomly hold his his bum and dash to the bathroom because he suddenly realized he needs to poop. How many times has that happened? I can count four times.” 

Tony thought about it. It did make a lot of sense. “So… he gets too excited and doesn’t realize he needs to go then just… pees. Or poops.” 

“Well, he’s made it to the bathroom every time until now. I don’t know, I guess we’ll ask his paediatrician when we take him during his check up.” Pepper gave it her best guess from potty training two kids. They tried with Peter and gave up because he was showing zero interest and then he was stolen from them before they got the chance to try again. 

She guesses that they could ask Peter if this happens often but that can be asked later, because right now, they had a fort to raid. 

.  
.  
.

Tony was setting the table and making sure that Peter would be sitting between him and Pepper just so they could keep him close for their own comfort and just in case since it would be his first time eating anything since lunch. 

Besides for the five puddings him and Morgan ate in the fort. 

“Daddy, mommy said I can’t help bring the food out.” Morgan pouted and lifted her arms up to him so he picked her up and set her on his hip while he finished setting the table. 

“That’s because we want to eat on the table and not off the floor because you dropped it.” Morgan responded by smacking his arm. 

“Hey. That’s mean.” She pouted so Tony stuck his tongue out at her and set her off to go run away. 

Once the food was brought out and everyone was sitting down, Peter went to go sit next to Harley so Tony picked him up and held him against his side while he grabbed Peter’s juice to place on the table where Peter would be sitting. 

“Chicken! And pickles!” Peter reached his arms out happily for the two yummy items he spotted. 

“Yep. Because that’s all we’re eating, just chicken and pickles.” Tony said sarcastically and sat down next to Pepper who was reaching for a pickle and taking a bite. 

Almost everyone held their breath as Peter chewed it and put the pickle on his plate to finish it for later. 

To say this was going to be a stressful meal for everyone besides Peter and Morgan was an understatement. 

Tony grabbed Peter’s chicken and put it on his plate so he could cut it up extremely small. “Where’s my chicken?” Peter asked. 

“Right here. I’m just cutting it up for you.” Tony finished cutting it and put it on Peter’s plate along with his pickle and mashed potatoes. “Do you want carrots?” 

“Yeah.” Peter excitedly bounced on his chair as Tony grabbed some to cut that up as well but then Morgan grabbed her whole chicken in her hand and walked over to Tony. 

“Can you cut my chicken too, daddy?” Tony looked over at the piece of chicken in his daughter's hand and chuckled. He wanted to tell her that she could do it on her own because he knew she could but after seeing him cut Peter’s, she wanted hers cut by him too. 

“Sure, Morg.” Tony cut the chicken up for her and looked over as Peter grabbed a piece of broccoli and shoved the whole thing in his mouth which had everyone panicking. “No, spit it out. You take small bites.” 

Peter spit the broccoli out and looked at Tony. “But I’m hungry.” 

“Peter, the food is all going into your mouth anyways so let’s eat slowly.” Pepper told him and grabbed her knife to cut the broccoli up. 

“And my carrots, daddy.” Morgan told him after the chicken was done. Tony looked over at Pepper who just shrugged because they couldn’t say no to her after doing it for Peter. 

Peter tapped on his arm to get his attention. “Um, I saw ice cream in the freezer, is that for desert?” 

Morgan’s eyes went wide but no one noticed but Peter who smiled at her. 

“Don’t worry about that right now and eat your chicken.” Tony grabbed Peter’s fork and handed it to him but Peter was putting it down to eat his pickle. 

Everyone started chatting with each other and after a few minutes, Morgan tugged on Tony’s arm and sat up to whisper in his ear. “Daddy, I need to go pee.” 

“Okay. Go, do you help climbing out of your chair?” Tony asked her since their chairs were pressed quite close together. 

“Nope.” He didn’t even know why he was asking since Morgan could climb over anything. 

Peter watched Morgan leave and then tugged on Tony’s arm. “I needa pee too.” 

Tony looked over at him. “... okay. Go pee.” 

Peter slid down on his chair and crawled under it and ran down the hallway into the kitchen where Morgan was already pulling a chair up to get into the freezer since neither of them could reach it. 

“Okay, Petey, we have five minutes to eat as much ice cream as possible.” Morgan stood up on the chair while Peter looked for the spoons. 

“What flavour is it? Please be chocolate.” Peter hoped it was chocolate since that was definitely his favourite and coincidentally the most messiest. 

“Um… ew strawberry.” Morgan pushed that ice cream to the side. “Wait! I think I see… chocolate!” 

“Yay!” Peter’s mouth was watering just thinking about it. 

Back at the dinner table, Pepper could sense that something was a bit odd. She knew her kids and she knew they weren’t going pee. Tony must have been thinking the same thing because he was giving her the look. 

“I’ll be back.” With a sigh, Pepper excused herself from the dinner table and walked down the hallway into the kitchen where she found her two monsters digging in the freezer for ice cream. “What is going on in here?” 

Both children froze and snapped their heads to look at her. 

“Get off that chair, Morgan, and Peter, put those spoons away.” Pepper walked over to them since none of them were making any move. She shut the freezer door and lifted Morgan off the chair. “Go put this back.” 

“Mommy, we just wanted ice cream, mommy.” Morgan used her innocent eyes on Pepper but it didn’t work. 

Pepper looked down at Peter who was still looking up at her with wide, scared eyes. She bent down to his level. “We are eating dinner right now. Daddy said you can have ice cream after dinner so let’s go and finish our food first.” 

“Okay mommy.” Morgan cheered, grabbing Pepper’s hand but Peter suddenly didn’t want to eat so he shook his head and sunk down to the floor. He wanted ice cream first. 

“Peter, let’s go.” Pepper held her hand out to Peter who was looking up at her with watery eyes but not crying yet. She wondered what this man did to Peter. 

“I want ice cream first.” Peter let out a whimper and rubbed at his eye with one hand then pointed up at the freezer with his other hand. “Ice cream.” 

“You are not getting any ice cream right now because we’re all eating dinner so let’s go.” Pepper started walking back to the dining room with Morgan but Peter still wasn’t making any move to follow them so she decided to leave it. 

That’s what she would do if it was Morgan and Harley if he ever did that which he wouldn’t. 

Tony looked at her confused when she only walked back in with Morgan. “Where’s Peter?” 

“Peter wants ice cream and doesn’t wanna come back and eat.” Pepper answered and sat down with a heavy sigh. She honestly didn’t know what she was doing. 

“I’ll go get him. He has to eat.” Tony went to go stand up but Pepper was stopping him.

“Wait, we are trying to treat him like Morgan and Harley and we wouldn’t go get them if it were one of them.” 

“Uh, I wouldn’t be doing that.” Harley felt the need to point out but no one listened to him. 

“But he was raised differently too, Pep. As much as we hate that, he was so I’m gonna go bring him back and get him to eat.” Tony waited for her to stop him again but he could tell she was just as lost as he was. They needed Natasha. 

“Anthony is right, Virginia.” Alice told her. “Sometimes you are going to have to do things differently than you would with Morgan and Harley. At least for now.” 

With that, Tony left to go see what Peter was up to. He found him lying on the kitchen floor with his legs stretched up in the cabinets. “That doesn’t look very comfortable.” 

Peter ignored him so Tony kneeled down. “Peter, it’s dinner time. You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to but if you choose not to, you will not be eating any ice cream after.” 

Peter turned to him as if he had slapped him across the face. “I want ice cream now and after.” 

“Nope. You have to eat your dinner first.” Tony pulled Peter up by his arms but he flopped back down. 

“I’m not hungry.” Peter lied. He was actually really hungry. 

“Yes you are. All you ate was two bites of chicken and a pickle.” Tony stood up himself and hopefully Peter would follow. “Are you walking back or am I carrying you back.” 

Peter sat up and gave him a dirty look. “You’re poop.” 

“Okay. Well,” Tony didn’t know what else to say. Harley used to call him that as well but Morgan never did. Maybe she will soon. “Let’s go eat.” 

Peter stood up and ran ahead of him to sit in Tony’s chair, next to Morgan which meant they would be eating for the next two hours. Fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter!! I have this new idea for this fic that I’m gonna write hopefully tmr so I’m super excited!! Alsoooooo I had this new fic idea but idk if I wanna write it because it’s super SUPER dark but I also kinda wanna write it at the same time


	17. We won’t let you go through it alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys!! I hope you like this chapter! I’m too tired now but I’m so excited to write all day tmr

“Are we still going driving, dad? It’s fine if you don’t want to tonight.” Harley asked him while Tony was about to do the laundry to wash the new clothes that came in for Peter. 

Tony would much rather be driving with Harley than doing laundry but it wasn’t about that. He wanted to show Harley that he wasn’t being tossed to the side just because Peter was back and now they had to split their attention. 

“Of course we are. Can you give me like ten minutes and then we’ll go.” Tony looked over at Harley who had the biggest smile forming on his face before he nodded and left. 

Tony put all of the clothes into the laundry hamper and left it for Pepper to take care of if she gets a chance, if not, he’ll just do it tonight when everybody is in bed. 

“Pep, I’m taking Harley driving.” Tony walked into Morgan’s bedroom to say where she was folding clothes on the floor. “You’re doing baths and bedtimes tonight but call me if you need me.” 

She shook her head fondly at him. “Oh Tony, I think I can handle it. Plus my parents are here which will help.” 

“I know. Alright…” Tony was scared to leave. He knew Pepper had it covered but he was still nervous to be leaving the house for the first time without bringing Peter with him to keep him close. “I’ll leave you to it.” 

As Tony and Harley were about to leave, Peter spotted them and ran over to the front door to see what they were doing. “Are you guys going anywhere?” 

“I’m taking Harley driving.” Tony answered him but he knew how Peter got when he saw people about to leave the house without him. 

“Oh. Okay. I’ll get my shoes on.” Peter sat down and grabbed his shoes but Tony stopped him. 

“No, bud. You’re gonna stay here because it’s actually so boring. I wish I could stay here and play with you guys.” Tony fake whispered so Harley couldn’t hear. He wanted Peter to know that he wasn’t going to miss out on anything. 

“What are you guys gonna do?” Peter asked him again and slowly started to put his shoes on but Tony stopped him. 

“Just drive around. Boring stuff.” Tony was so grateful to see Pepper walk down the stairs. He knew he couldn’t just leave the house with Peter there and trying to come with them. 

“Come, Peter. We’re gonna make slime but I need you and Morgan to come help me find it in the basement.” Pepper held her hand out for Peter who thankfully took it right away and started to follow her. He turned back to look at Tony and Harley before he was yanked around the corner and out of view. 

“Where are we going?” Peter asked Pepper once Morgan joined them. 

“To the basement to get some crafts for us.” Pepper replied and opened up the basement door with the new lock that they got. She’d like to see her kids try and open that one. It was difficult for her to even open. 

“Are we making slime?!” Morgan asked excitedly once they got to the bottom of the stairs and started heading towards the craft section. 

“We are so let’s get started.” 

.  
.  
.

The night started off fun with the three of them bonding and making slime that took four tries to make since Peter and Morgan were being extremely silly and not paying attention to the instructions but that’s what was making it fun. 

Pepper felt so happy in that moment in which she was really trying to soak up all the good and happy moments that they had with Peter to make memories of a whole childhood that was stolen from them all. 

But as always, with the mood memories were going to come the not so good memories which didn’t necessarily make them bad… they would still look back and smile at these days with the bedtime routine with Peter ten years from now. 

Mostly all of the memories but not all. 

“Who’s going in the bath first?” Pepper asked them to give the kids a choice. They were both covered in glue and paint so she was going to do bath time while her parents watched the other child. 

“Not me.” Peter said while he continued to paint his hand red and blue so he could put his handprint on another paper. 

Morgan grabbed the paint brush to start doing it to herself as well even though they already made about ten papers with hand prints on it. “Let’s go, Morgan. You already made some hands.” 

“But I still want to.” Morgan went to dip her brush in but Pepper took it from her hand and pulled her off the chair. “Nooo!” 

“How about you show daddy tomorrow morning?” Pepper asked her and began walking towards the stairs. 

“Yeah! Then I can show him.” 

“Mom, dad, I’m bringing Morgan upstairs for a bath and Peter is in the dining room.” Pepper called out to her parents as she walked up the stairs with Morgan for bath number one. 

Back in the dining room, Peter painted all up his arm by the time Alice and Mike had walked into the room. “That looks like so much fun, Peter.” 

“Yeah. Can I paint your arms?” The ten year old asked Mike who rolled up his sleeve so Peter could paint his arm, to the child’s excitement. “Yay! What colour do you want?” 

By the time Pepper had bathed Morgan and put her in her bedroom with a book since the parents were working on Morgan self soothing and her falling asleep by herself most nights as to not always depend on Tony or Pepper always being there to get her to fall asleep, Peter was a different story since they couldn’t let him fall asleep himself just yet because he currently hated bedtimes and either loved or hated bath times which was frustrating for everyone. 

So when Pepper got downstairs, Peter had almost all of his skin painted on him but she couldn’t be mad because the smile on his face was worth the mess. 

“Look at you, Peter. I love your art work.” Pepper told him proudly and pulled out her phone to send an updated picture to Tony. 

Peter beamed at her and showed her his hands. “They used to be red and blue but now it looks like poo!” 

“That rhymes.” Mike exclaimed. 

“How about we go see what colour it changes in the bath?” Pepper asked him, trying to get Peter excited for his bath. This was always hard but they had to have the right approach to it and make sure that they did Morgan first since it was always easier and no one could have that much fun while Peter was gone otherwise all hell would break loose. 

“Yeah, probably like a really cool mixed colour or something like that.” Peter thought out loud and followed Pepper towards the stairs. 

“Let’s see but no touching anything until we get in the bathroom.” She warned him, cringing when Peter came close to touching the walls. 

Peter nodded and followed Pepper up into the bathroom then leaned against the bathtub to look inside. “I don’t want to wash my hair.” 

Pepper ran her fingers through his hair and felt chunks of paint in it. “Sorry, Peter, but you have so much paint in your hair it could be a paintbrush.” 

That got Peter to start giggling and pulling on some of his extra long curls. “I like it like that though.” 

Pepper started filling the bath and checking for the right temperature as she watched Peter tug on some hair strands. “You can paint with your hair another day. Do you want to wash your hair by yourself tonight?” 

“No! I’m not.” Peter rubbed at his eyes and shook his head aggressively. Pepper sighed, she knew Peter was supposed to be showing some signs of independent bathing at his age but he would get mad every time Tony or her asked him to do it himself. They would have to talk to Natasha about that tomorrow when she comes. 

“Alright. I’m gonna go grab some towels while you climb in the bath. I’ll be right back.” Pepper stood up and left the room to grab some towels since Morgan had used up all the ones they had in their bathroom. They were falling behind on laundry which was stressful since instead of actually doing any laundry they were just buying more clothes. 

Either way Peter needed a lot of clothes but she wanted to have a Peter and mommy day and go with just him. 

By the time Pepper went back into the bathroom, Peter was pouring water up onto the ledge of the window and watching it drip back down into the bathtub. “Is the water changing colour yet?” 

Peter shook his head and rubbed some water on his arms. “Look. It’s turning purple a bit.” 

“Wow but you have to sit down to rinse it all off.” Pepper went under the sink to grab a face scrub that she would throw out later since it would be covered in paint. Maybe she should have just sprayed them down with the hose outside. 

Pepper sat down on the bath steps and handed the sponge to Peter. “Scrub all the paint off.”

“I wanna show Tony.” Peter told her and held up his hands to show all the paint covering it. Pepper felt her heart skip a beat. Peter actually wanted to show Tony something and that made her so happy. It was something as simple as Peter saying that that made Pepper’s whole day. That among every other thing. 

“We can send him a picture.” Pepper pulled out her phone and aimed it at Peter’s smiling face and the paint dripping off his hands to take a few pictures. “I’ll send them to him.” 

“I wanna see.” Peter leaned forward to look at the pictures but he went to reach for the phone so Pepper pulled it out of his reach. “Tell him-um, tell him I wanna see a picture of where they are. And I wanna know what they’re doing.” 

Pepper sent the picture off to Tony, telling him what Peter said and what he was asking for. “I told him. But he can also tell you all about it tomorrow morning.” 

“And tomorrow I’ll tell him um, what me and um… Morgan did. And our paintings. I think mine’s better but Morgan’s is pretty good too. I like the pink one she made.” Peter grabbed the cup of water and poured it over his arms to scrub all the paint off then looked up at Pepper to see her smiling at him. “What?” 

“Nothing. I just love you very much.” 

Peter felt his cheeks heating up a bit. “I know. I think I love you too.” 

There it was. Pepper tried not to freak out and make it a big deal but it was a big deal and she could not believe what Peter was saying to her. She didn’t want to overreact but she was trying so hard not to cry. 

“Yeah? I love you, Peter. So so much, okay? I just… I love you.” Pepper admitted to him again and Peter was just staring at her but she didn’t mind. He said it to her. “We um, we gotta wash your hair now.” 

Peter shook his head and continued to pour the cup of water on his arms. “Not tonight. I can swim in the pool tomorrow instead.” 

Even as Pepper grabbed the hair washing cup, she disagreed with Peter. “That doesn’t count, silly boy.” Pepper went to dip the cup into the water but Peter tried to move away. “I won’t get it in your eyes.” 

“I wanna get out now. I don’t need to wash my hair.” Peter moved to the edge of the bathtub and wanted to get out so he sat on the ledge around the bath. 

“Do you want to go in the shower?” Pepper asked him, trying to bribe him but he was shaking his head. Tony was usually the one who washed his hair while she did Morgan’s bath in the other bathroom. The only time she did Peter’s hair was when Tony was in the bathroom to distract him. 

“It’s time to get out now.” Peter tried to slide towards the edge but Pepper stood up to block him. 

“We’ll be quick. How about you let me wash your hair and I’ll let you watch tv before bed?” She knew she shouldn’t be doing this but she had absolutely no idea what to do. She watched Peter think it over in his head before he was climbing back into the water. “Thank you. Lean your head back a bit.” 

“No. I’ll get water up my nose.” Peter tried to push Pepper away so she sighed. 

“You won’t. I promise I’ll be extra careful.” Pepper moved to the other side of the bathtub and poured the water over Peter’s head to get his hair soaked. “See. And you don’t need to hold your breath, baby.” 

Pepper was so curious as to how Peter washed his hair before. He obviously didn’t do it himself which was why he wanted help and that was awful. Steve was depriving Peter from hitting important independent milestones in his life such as bathing by himself. 

“All done now.” Peter said and looked over at Pepper but she was reaching for the shampoo bottle. “No. I don’t need it.” 

“Can you pour some on my hand for me? Doesn’t it smell good?” Pepper handed the bottle to Peter who took it and took a sniff before he poured some onto Pepper’s hand and let her massage it into his head while he used the sponge to wipe his face down. 

Pepper took a bit longer than necessary to massage the soap into his hair, trying to make up on so many years not being able to do this with her youngest son. 

She rinsed her hands in the water and went to grab the hair cup but then she thought of something. “How about you do it, Peter? You can try-” 

“No! I’m not.” Peter tried to sit back up on the ledge but Pepper grabbed his arm. “Let me go.” 

“Okay, I’ll do it then.” She wanted to know how bath times worked with Steve. What did that man do to their kid? It was making her sick how he had scared Peter into not doing so many things such as tying his own shoes and swimming and that was just what they knew so far. 

“Did you used to take baths before?” Pepper asked him, dying to know the answer. 

“Yeah.” 

“So then he used to wash your hair for you?” 

Peter frowned and lifted his foot up to try and rip his long nails off. “Yeah. But if I didn’t want to wash my hair I didn’t have to. Or I’d get to wash it in the sink because that’s what I wanted.” 

Pepper hummed in thought. It made sense. Steve had no strict routine with Peter and didn’t say no to him which is not good. That’s why when Peter hears the word no it’s the end of the world, unless it was going outside, then all he heard was no from Steve. 

“Well, keeping our hair clean is very important and you’ll feel so clean after.” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “But I wanted to wash my hair another day. Not tonight.” 

“We’re almost done.” It was a lot harder to get Peter to lie back so she could rinse the soap out but in the end, she wrapped a towel on his face and did it like that because Peter wasn’t moving his head back. 

Once he was freshly washed and cleaned, she let him sit for a while so she could regain some of her patience for bedtime.

“I wanna see my hair now.” Peter asked and tried to reach for her phone so Pepper grabbed it before he could soak it. “Let me see.” 

“I’m showing you. See? It looks the same as when you get out of the pool.” Pepper snapped a picture of his hair that she brushed back and sent another one off to Tony who was probably going to wonder why bath time was taking so long. 

“Yeah.” Peter looked at his face in the camera but Pepper had to take it away from him because otherwise he would be looking at himself all night. “Hey. I wasn’t done yet.” 

“Time to get out and watch a tv show.” Pepper pulled the plug out but Peter tried to push it back down. 

“Not yet. I wanted to stay in longer.” Pepper sighed. This was their problem every night. Peter doesn’t want to get in and then he doesn’t want to get out. Tony always did this part but Pepper didn’t want to try and pick him up and accidentally drop him which she knew she would do. 

So, she had to use her best mom voice. “Peter, I told you to get out of the bathtub so get out right now or you will be going straight into your bedroom.” 

Peter snapped his head to look at her, trying to figure out if she was being serious or not before finally standing up and climbing out. “Fine you poo poo butt.” 

“That’s not very nice, Peter.” Pepper told him but Peter responded by sticking his tongue out at her. She ran the towel over his hair to get rid of all the excess water droplets and wrapped the towel around his shoulders then walked into the bedroom. 

“Tv! Tv! Craig of the ceek.” Peter went to go run towards the bedroom doors but Pepper called him back. 

“You have to put your pyjamas on first so how about you do that while I go put your show on downstairs?” Pepper knew that would get Peter into his pyjamas faster so he wasn’t sitting on the floor and getting dressed in slow motion. 

She left the bedroom and went into the living room feeling rather accomplished with herself. She got both kids bathed and now she just had to put Peter to bed after one episode. She was winging this. 

A few minutes later, Peter was running down the stairs and into the living room but he wasn’t dressed in his pyjamas. “Where are your pyjamas?” 

Peter smiled at her. “This is Tony’s shirt. It’s big and comfy. And it smells good.” Peter pulled up the bottom half to snuff it. “Mmmm.” 

“Aw. It looks so cute on you.” Pepper couldn’t ask him to change. He looked adorable in Tony’s shirt that made him look even smaller since the sleeves went almost to his elbows and the bottom went to his knees. “Come sit with me.” 

Peter didn’t hesitate to get some cuddles from Pepper. She soaked in every minute of it, enjoying spending some one on one time with her baby, especially after the day they had. 

After the episode was over, Pepper shut the tv off and kissed the top of Peter’s head. “Bedtime. How about you go brush your teeth and I’ll be up to tuck you in?” 

Peter tried to lift up Pepper’s shirt to hide his head under there. “No!” 

“Peter, what are you doing?” Pepper pulled his shirt down and looked at Peter. “Bedtime my baby. Let’s go up together.” 

“Where’s Tony and Harley? Maybe we should call them. I’ll get your phone.” Peter ran over to the other side of the couch to grab her phone so Pepper grabbed it from him, seeing that it was a lot later than she thought. 

“They’ll come home later but you’ll already be sleeping.” Pepper grabbed his hand and started walking towards the stairs but Peter grabbed onto the railing. “Come, Peter.” 

“No! My milk.” Peter reached his arm out in the direction of the kitchen but Pepper wanted to stop that soothing habit before it got too bad. 

“No milk tonight. Up.” She went to grab Peter’s arm but he was screaming so she immediately let go before he could wake up Morgan. 

“I need my milk. Please!” Peter begged her and sat down on the stairs, looking up at her desperately. 

She sighed, hating that she was giving in. “Alright. I’ll be right back.” 

Peter smiled and watched her walk away so he grabbed onto the railing and tried to lift his feet up on the bars. “Milk milk milk.” He hummed and looked over at the door that he heard opening up. 

He felt his heart speed up a bit as he waited to see who was behind the door but then Tony was walking in, followed by Harley and he felt his face light up the same time Tony’s did when he looked at him. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, Mr?” Tony asked with fake anger before he was kicking off his shoes and putting his keys away. 

“What a sight to be greeted with. Hi little man.” Harley ruffled his hair on his way to the kitchen. 

Tony walked over to Peter and looked down at him. “Hmmm? Is that my shirt? It looks like my shirt.” 

Peter nodded his head and stood up to take a sniff of it like he did with Pepper. “Uh huh. And it smells good.” 

“I’ll bet it does. Where’s mommy?” Tony looked upstairs but he didn’t see her. He wondered how Peter was being. He looked extremely happy in all the pictures he got but he knew Peter’s mood could change in a second. 

Peter lifted his arms up for him. “Up.” 

Tony didn’t hesitate to lift Peter into his arms and take in the scent of his freshly washed hair. He hoisted Peter up in his arms more and started walking towards the kitchen where Pepper was heating up milk for Peter. 

“Hey, Pep. Look who I found wearing my shirt.” Tony told her and felt Peter shyly lay his head on his shoulder which he loved so much when he did that. It always made his heart skip a beat. 

He looked over at Peter and watched as he lifted his hand up to his mouth and stuck his thumb in there to start sucking so Tony immediately took it out. “Don’t do that.” 

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck instead and sighed tiredly. “I’ll put him to bed, Pep. Can I have the milk?” 

“Yeah. I wanna talk to Harley about how the driving went.” Pepper put the lid on and handed it to Tony. 

“Oh. He’s getting really good, Pep. Tell mom about your parking.” Tony winked at Harley and then turned to carry Peter upstairs. He felt Peter lifted his head up and then was reaching for the water bottle with the milk. “Are you tired, Pete?” 

Peter shook his head even as he started drinking which told Tony that Peter was exhausted. Considering what time it was. “I can’t wait to hear all about your day tomorrow.” 

Peter didn’t respond so Tony carried him into his bedroom and sat down so he could hold Peter in his arms for a bit. He missed Peter so freaking much while he was out driving with Harley tonight. 

Although he loved spending time with his oldest child, he really did miss Peter. 

So he just needed to get in some cuddles with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m writing this new fic that I’m REALLY struggling with and I’ve never struggled so much with a fic before, it’s so frustrating but I still want to write it idkk if I’ll post it but I like the idea


	18. The moment we needed the most

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna post this last night but I worked like 11 hours and I was EXHAUSTED and fell asleep at like 10:30

Tony stayed behind to watch Peter while Pepper and her dad went to go drop Morgan and Harley off at school. 

Alice was cleaning up the house for them and doing laundry which Tony was extremely grateful for. It was hard for him and Pepper to find the time to get the laundry and cleaning done since when they did have time, they were exhausted and went to bed instead. 

Tony was going to let Peter sleep in for as long as possible today since he went to bed really late last night but that was every night for them. 

He was about to put the crafts into the basement from last night that Pepper still hadn’t told him about since he ended up taking longer than necessary to put Peter to bed and by the time he went into his bedroom, Pepper was already passed out. 

That was when he heard the sound of footsteps making its way down the stairs and he knew who that was so he walked down the hallway to go see his little baby. 

Peter was standing on the bottom step and running at his eyes but he was crying and that sent Tony into protective dad mode. “What happened, baby? Why are you crying?” 

Peter let out a sob and lifted his arms up so Tony lifted him onto his hip and started walking up the stairs to get Peter dressed and ready for the day. He rubbed at his back and waited for Peter to tell him. 

“I-I woke up and my blanket was on the floor.” Peter cried loudly into Tony’s shoulder but it was what Tony expected. There was absolutely no reason for Peter to be so upset at ten to eight in the morning yet here he was. 

“Oh no. Well why don’t we pick blankie up and put him back in the bed?” Tony suggested, knowing that Peter was upset about something else rather than the blanket on the floor. Maybe it had to do with Natasha coming over since they had a good weekend. 

Tony put Peter down and watched him pick up his blanket, give it a quick sniff and place it on his pillow. He then wiped at his eyes and turned to Tony. 

“All better?” Tony asked him and got a tiny nod out of Peter but then he was pointing to the door. 

“I need my milk.” Peter said, rather desperately so Tony sighed. It was going to be that kind of day. 

“Milk is for bedtime. You don’t need it right now.” Tony walked over to his dresser and sat on his knees to get some clothes options out. It was definitely colder out today so maybe no shorts. “Come pick your outfits and then I have a surprise for you.” 

Peter threw his head onto his bed and slid onto the floor with a loud cry. 

“Come over here, naked butt. You have to get dressed.” Tony teased but Peter lifted his head up and turned to stare daggers into his eyes. 

“I’m not naked.” Peter declared and crawled over to Tony. 

“You’re just in my shirt so let’s get you in your own clothes.” Tony looked at Peter who was watching him take some clothes out. He looked exhausted. Tony debated trying to get him back to bed. “Do you want to pick your outfit or do you want me to?” 

Peter weakly pointed at him and laid his head on the dresser. “You.” 

“Okay.” Tony picked out grey track pants with a white long sleeved top and his underwear and socks. “You get dressed while I go make you some br-” 

“No! I need help!” Peter cried out then dramatically threw himself onto the floor and tried to kick Tony. “You do it!” 

Tony looked at the bedroom door, wishing that Pepper would walk in. Alice. Anybody. 

He knew it was his responsibility to handle this as a parent but he didn’t know how. Each day Peter was getting more and more comfortable with them which was amazing and a huge step in the recovery process but it also meant days like this. 

Where Peter refused to do anything by himself and Tony didn’t know if getting Peter dressed and giving into his child’s wants was a good or bad thing to do. 

Morgan was dressing herself with the occasional help from Tony or Pepper but she was doing it on her own. Peter absolutely refused to get dressed by himself and if he did it was incredibly slow movements to the point where he just gave in and dressed Peter himself. 

He didn’t know what to do. 

“Umm… how about you try?” Tony suggested which caused Peter to pick up his pants and throw them at him. 

“You do it!” Peter lifted his legs up for Tony but Tony just stared at him. He couldn’t give in. 

“No, you’re old enough.” Tony grabbed Peter’s arms and pulled him into a sitting position but Peter flopped back down. “Peter, I will leave you alone if you don’t listen to me right now.” 

“Don’t.” Peter whispered and rubbed at his eyes. He let out a puff of air and moved towards Tony to get cuddles so Tony pulled him against his side. 

“You have to get dressed, baby. You can’t wear a shirt all day.” Tony said softly to him while he brushed his curls back and pressed light kisses to the top of his head. He knew that Peter was overtired despite just waking up. 

“I want you to.” Peter told him while he was playing with Tony’s necklace. 

“But you’re a big boy, Pete. You can get dressed by yourself now.” Tony explained to Peter, not understanding why it was so hard for Peter to do it himself and why they had to spend two hours doing something that should take five minutes. 

Peter shook his head and sighed. 

“How about I wait here for you to get dressed then we’ll go down together?” The father suggested but Peter was a stubborn Stark, he should have known. 

Natasha was coming today. Maybe that’s why Tony was giving in, so he could ask her what to do about this situation. 

He slowly pulled away from Peter and pulled his oversized shirt off, wondering if Peter was going to sleep in it tonight as well. Oh, he was so not looking forward to bedtime routine. 

Peter went to lay down on the carpet but Tony shook his head and paused. “Sit up. How are you supposed to get dressed?” 

Peter simply pointed at him, telling him to do all the work but Tony wasn’t going to do that so he grabbed Peter’s underwear and stood up. “Up up. I’ll help you.” 

It wasn’t what Peter wanted but too bad. He got Peter dressed quickly and started walking downstairs but when he went to turn the corner, Peter stopped walking and sat on the top of the stairs. 

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked him and looked down at Peter who was nearing tears. He knew he had to be extra patient with Peter but it was still hard at times like this since he knew his baby was hurting but it was hard for him to understand why. 

“I-where’s Harley and Morgan?” Peter turned so he was lying on his stomach on the top of the stairs with his legs hanging down. 

“It’s Monday so they’re at school.” Tony told him and then reached over to grab Peter’s hand so he could walk downstairs with him. “I have a surprise for you.” 

“What is it?” Peter asked, curiously. Tony knew that would work. Curiosity always got the better of his kids. 

“It’s a surprise for after breakfast.” Tony walked towards the kitchen with Peter but then heard the door open so he turned around to see Pepper walking in with her dad. “Hi. How was drop off?” 

Peter started tapping on his arm while Pepper put her stuff down to come talk to them. “I want waffles for breakfast. The ones in the freezer.” 

“Alright, Pete. Go sit.” Tony washed his hands and looked over at Pepper as she walked in, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “No crying?” 

“No, she was good. I think she was overtired so she was too tired to do anything but sit there.” Pepper opened the fridge to pour Peter a glass of juice. “You and me are going to the store later today, Peter.” 

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Really? Where are we going?” 

“We have to go clothes shopping and then maybe we can have some lunch together.” Pepper smiled back at Peter’s excitement and went to go sit next to him while Tony got his breakfast ready. 

“Is that my surprise?” Peter asked as he bounced on his knees on the kitchen stool. 

Both parents turned to look at each other. They have been waiting to tell Peter for some time now but they haven't gotten the chance to do it just yet. 

“No. There’s something we wanna tell you.” Tony grabbed Peter’s plate and placed it in front of him. He paused for dramatic effect and leaned forward on the kitchen island to enjoy the excited smile on Peter’s chubby baby face. “Well… remember how you asked us about your best friend Ned?” 

“Yeah!” 

“I found him.” Tony told his kid and loved the excited scream he got in return. “I called his mom and we decided to set up a playdate for you guys tomorrow at four.” 

That phone call was rather awkward and uncomfortable at first. Tony could tell that Ned’s mother had wanted to ask him so many questions and tell him so many things but she was holding back in fear of saying the wrong thing to him. He knew how hard it was for her considering that Peter was a huge part of their life for so long, hey, he could ask her what Peter was like. 

That was ridiculous. He had to ask another parent what his child was like growing up. 

Peter pulled him from his thoughts by standing up on his chair. “Yay! I’m so happy! Ned is so cool! And we can go swimming together!” 

“Yeah, you guys can do whatever you want but you have to sit down in the chair so you don’t fall off, Peter.” Pepper reached up to grab his hand and to sit him back down on his knees. “He’s going to come after school for a few hours to see you.” 

“Is he gonna sleep over too?” Peter asked then shoved a piece of waffle into his mouth causing both parents to unconsciously hold their breaths in fear of what happened the day before. 

“Um, well, he can’t because he has school the next day.” Tony explained to him, hoping that was enough for Peter to not freak out. 

“Aw, okay. I’m so excited for him to come over. And I can show him Asier too!” 

.  
.  
.

Natasha was expected to arrive at any minute but it wasn’t the best time for her to come now since Peter was crying over nothing and that meant the parents had to calm him down before they could sit and talk with their social worker and close family friend. 

Tony was trying to coax Peter to come downstairs with them but Peter refused to move. 

“We can eat ice cream after. Do you want to do that?” Tony asked, desperate for Peter to follow him downstairs but Peter shook his head again so with a sigh, Tony lifted Peter up, into his arms. 

As he was walking down the stairs, the doorbell rang so Tony unlocked it and opened it up, knowing it was Natasha on the other side. 

“Good morning. How are you guys today?” Natasha asked, stepping into the house and looking at Peter in Tony’s arms who had his head resting on his shoulder. 

“Uh, we’re good. Pete’s tired and didn’t want to get dressed so there’s that. I don’t know where Pepper went.” Tony stepped aside so she could walk in and saw Pepper greet her while he shut the door and locked it. 

While Pepper and Natasha talked, Tony went to go put Peter on his feet but Peter let out a loud scream and shook his head. “No! Carry me.” 

“Okay.” Tony wasn’t going to complain about carrying his son, even though Peter wasn’t behaving the best. 

He carried Peter into the living room where Pepper and Natasha were already sitting so he sat himself down next to Pepper and felt Peter change just position so he could lay his head on his chest. 

“Did you sleep good last night, Peter?” Natasha asked but Peter didn’t answer her so Tony tapped into his back. 

“Pete, Natasha asked you a question.” Tony whispered to him but Peter shook his head against him. 

“That’s okay. He’s tired.” Natasha pulled out a notebook and crossed one leg over the other. “So how is everything settling in?” 

Tony felt Peter sigh and shift on him so he could look at Pepper and Natasha instead of having his face buried in his chest. He wanted to let Pepper do the talking since his attention was forced on Peter. 

“Well, having my parents here is helping a lot. We had a pretty big scare yesterday but everything is okay now.” Pepper had called Natasha and told her about what happened so she was already up to date with that. “It’s just a routine that we need to get down but it’s a lot harder than we thought.” 

“Of course. Everything will take time and once Peter starts up school again, that will help out a lot with the routine.” Natasha told them, taking a bit of stress off of both parents. 

Tony leaned back against the couch more comfortably. “Yeah, we’re still deciding on that though.” 

He didn’t want Peter to go to school. He didn’t want to be away from Peter for seven hours a day. He wasn’t ready for that just yet. 

When Tony looked back down at Peter, he had his thumb in his mouth which was a new bad habit that Peter had started a few days ago. He tapped on Pepper’s arm so she saw what Peter was doing and Natasha as well. 

“Let’s take this out.” Tony gently pulled Peter’s hand away from his mouth but that got Peter shifting uncomfortably. 

“Is this common?” Natasha asked the parents, looking a bit concerned. 

“Yeah.” Tony answered. “It started a few days ago.” He looked over at Pepper to see if he got the timing right. 

Peter was staring at everyone in the room before his gaze landed on Natasha and stayed. “Do you like sucking your thumb, Peter?” 

He nodded his head so she continued. “Did you used to do it before as well?” 

“Uh huh. I’m allowed before.” Peter answered and sat up straighter. “He um, he would let me and said to suck my thumb to fall asleep and to calm down or when I’m tired.” 

Tony shook his head. Wow. So Steve was behind this, encouraging a bad habit at this age. He should have been helping Peter stop and not encouraging it. 

“How about you hold my hand instead?” Tony suggested to get Peter to stop doing it. Peter reached out to hold his hand but then put his other hand up to his mouth to suck on his thumb. “No, buddy.” 

Tony took Peter’s thumb from his mouth again which caused Peter to throw himself back onto the couch and start crying so Tony looked over at Pepper, having no idea what he just caused and what to do. 

“I’ll get him some warm milk.” Pepper stood up to grab the bottle and heat up some milk while Tony lifted his crying child up. 

“Pete, mommy went to get your milk, look.” He turned Peter so he could see Pepper in the kitchen which got Peter to stop crying and wipe at his eyes. “See? It’s okay.” 

When Pepper came back, she handed the water bottle to Peter who took it and immediately laid down in Tony’s arms. His eyes were already shutting closed which told everyone how exhausted he truly was. 

“What’s this?” Natasha asked, gesturing to the milk Peter was drinking. 

“Well… he won’t sleep at night so we give it to him to get him to calm down and then he falls asleep.” Tony explained, knowing how messed up it was but they didn’t know what else to do. 

“He likes the comfort that comes with the milk and the thumb sucking so it’s important to find another comfort for him.” She explained to them. “Maybe at bedtime you find something that works for all of you to settle him into bed then start weaning him off of the milk bottle.” 

Tony looked down at Peter who already had his eyes closed so he went to take the bottle from Peter’s mouth but that caused Peter to start whining and putting it back in his mouth so Tony let go. 

“The thumb sucking will eventually go away on its own. He is doing it because he’s stressed or content or he needs help falling asleep or calming down so next time you see him doing it, you should just sit down with him and ask him what he’s feeling instead of ripping his thumb from his mouth because then it’ll just go right back in.” Natasha explained to them and both parents made mental reminders to do that and tell Harley to look out for it too, just in case. 

“Alright. And we’re taking him to the doctor’s for a checkup sometime this week and we’ll bring this up there but the other day we were just playing and he was having fun and laughing but out of nowhere he just peed his pants. So I don’t know…” Pepper brought up and she was pretty sure why Peter did that accidentally but she wanted Natasha’s opinion on it, knowing that she had a lot more of a background than just a social worker and child kidnapping detective. 

“Well, if he was awake and having fun then I’d say that it was because he was having too much fun so he just didn’t get any signs telling him he needs to go pee.” Natasha explained. “Check with his paediatrician when you go too but I think it was just because he got too excited so maybe keep reminding him to go. Does he wet the bed?” 

Both parents shook their heads. “No. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. Hopefully not right now.” Tony chuckled and gestured down to Peter who was lying on top of him, now fully passed out so he carefully pulled the water bottle out of his mouth and set it on the couch. 

“Just keep an eye on it. As he starts school it might start happening or any other big changes.” She told the two of them but they were already looking out for that since Peter came back to them. 

Tony debated bringing up the whole getting dressed thing but he didn’t know how. He trusted Natasha either way and he knew she wouldn’t judge so he just decided to bring it up. “Okay and what should we do with him refusing to get dressed? He just sits there and waits for us to do it for him. As well as bath time, I mean I know we still need to supervise him in the bath but he won’t bathe by himself at all.” 

“I think that Rogers had really babied him and deprived him of so many things such as dressing Peter and probably bathing him which is why Peter doesn’t want to do it himself because why dress and bathe yourself when someone else can do it for you, right?” She asked rhetorically and shrugged. 

“While he’s getting dressed whether for the day or for bed, make it fun and give him choices then sit there and encourage him to get dressed on his own. He knows that you will eventually give in and dress him since that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time so stop that and try to get him to do it by himself.” As she explained to them what to do, Tony couldn’t help but think that Peter was a stubborn Stark so it was a lot easier said than done. 

“I think once he realizes that we aren’t going to do it for him then hopefully he’ll take it upon himself to get dressed on his own.” Pepper added and reached over to grab Tony’s hand so she could silently tell him that it was going to be okay. 

Tony glanced down at Peter who was still passed out in his arms and it sent a wave of happiness through him. Yeah, everything was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I wrote like 20 chapters of this fic before I actually even posted the first chapter and now when I go back to edit the chapters, since I wrote them so long ago, I forget what I wrote and I just edited this one chapter and I was like woaahhhhhh omggggg so I’m so excited for you guys to read it ahhhhh


	19. The past you’re dying to change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys all have a good weekend:) I may go Christmas shopping tmr but idk if I’m feeling up for it

“Mom, grandma is asking where the extra toilet paper is.” Harley said to Pepper while she was cleaning up the kitchen and getting ready for Peter’s best friend to come over. 

“Um… there isn’t any in the closet upstairs?” Pepper asked him. She always stocked up on essentials such as toilet paper. They ran out once so Tony had to bathe Morgan in the shower to clean her butt off while she quickly went out to buy some. Now, she was always stocked up. 

“Oh. I don’t know but Peter’s in the bathroom so…” Harley went to go back upstairs to help his grandma look but Tony was walking up from the basement with a box of Morgan’s toys that she had been begging him to bring up ever since she got home from school. 

“I need my butt wiped!” Peter yelled from the bathroom upstairs. 

Tony looked at Pepper so she explained to him the situation. “We can’t find any toilet paper and Peter went poo.” 

“Alright. I’ll grab some wipes and go help him.” He went to leave but turned to Harley first. “Do you wanna go drive to the grocery store with your grandpa to buy some stuff?” 

Harley was jumping up at the offer. Any chance he got to drive he was excited about. “Yes! Of course. What do you need?” 

Tony walked to the front door to grab his card and keys for Harley. “Lots of toilet paper and baby wipes. And see if they have those applesauce juice things. If they do, buy like five containers.” 

“Alright. Baby wipes, toilet paper and applesauce juice packets. Got it.” Harley listed off so Tony gave him a thumbs up and headed upstairs to go see what the issue was with Peter. 

“I need toilet paper.” Peter said as he stood by the bathroom door and watched his grandma look in the hallway closet for toilet paper. 

“Tony, there’s no toilet paper.” Alice told him, sounding defeated. 

Tony reached into the closet to grab the last pack of baby wipes. “I know. Harley went with Mike to the store to grab some. I got Pete.” He walked towards Peter and raised his arms up at him. “What’s going on?” 

“There’s no toilet paper.” Peter told him and stepped aside to let Tony into the bathroom. “I have poop in my butt.” 

Tony chuckled at his kid, so grateful that they got Peter back at this age and not any later. “Oh no. I have some baby wipes for you to use until we get more toilet paper.” 

Tony opened the package and pulled out some for Peter. “After you finish in here, come downstairs because your friend is coming in a few minutes.” 

Peter couldn’t contain his excitement. He hadn’t seen his best friend in so long. “Okay! I’ll finish quickly.” 

Tony left Peter to finish up while he went downstairs to wait for both Peter and his friend to arrive. It was going to be so exciting for him to meet the boy that they heard about non stop. It was also going to be exciting to see how Peter interacts with the boy since they had never seen Peter interact with anyone else besides their family and Natasha basically. 

He looked over at Pepper who was setting out some snacks for the boys and was about to go help her when Morgan sat on his foot. “Daddy, is Peter’s friend coming over?” 

“He is. He should be here soon.” Tony ran a hand through her hair but it got caught on a knot so he took his hand out, making a mental note to brush her hair when she takes a bath tonight. 

“Is he bad?” The six year old asked, more serious this time. 

Tony could hear the concern in his daughter’s voice and he knew that even for a six year old, she was still incredibly smart and knew more than they had told her. 

“No. He’s not bad, baby.” Tony caressed her face, not understanding why she was saying this. 

Morgan shrugged her shoulders. “Well… I was just thinking because the other bad man that took Petey away from us.” 

Tony’s heart broke at hearing that. He tried his best not to think about that now that they had Peter back and to focus on their new life but the continuous thought was always at the back of his mind with everything now. 

“No one is going to take Petey away from us again, okay? I promise I won’t let it happen.” Tony knew that was a promise he would keep or die trying. 

Morgan snuggled up against him as there were loud footsteps making its way down the stairs which Tony knew was Peter coming down. Both him and Morgan looked towards the doorway to see Peter walk in but his pants were twisted all around him. 

“What happened to your pants?” Tony asked, amused and held out his arms to fix it for him as Peter walked over to him. 

“Is Ned here yet?” Peter asked, anxious for his best friend to show up. He went from seeing his best friend almost every single day since kindergarten to not seeing him for a whole two weeks and he missed Ned so much. 

“Not yet but he should be here any-” 

Just as Tony was talking, the doorbell rang so Peter jumped off the couch excitedly and ran towards the door with Morgan following behind him. Since Tony had put extra child locks on the door, Peter wasn’t able to open the door by himself anymore so he turned to Tony and started to impatiently jump up and down. 

“Open! Hurry!” The ten year old demanded. 

Tony got to the door and unlocked it for Peter. He opened it and was greeted by the sight of a little boy who must be Ned and his mother. 

“Ned! I missed you!” Peter threw himself into his best friends arms to hug him tightly. 

“Peter! I’m so glad you’re okay!” Ned squeezed Peter back just as hard before Peter was pulling away. “When you didn’t show up to school the next week and then our teacher was telling us what happened to you.” 

“Yeah.” Was all Peter said and then Peter was looking up at Ned’s mom. “Hi!” 

“Hi Peter. Come here.” The women bent down to be at Peter’s height more and pulled him in for a tight hug that lifted him off the ground a bit. “I’m so glad you’re okay, honey.” 

Morgan let go of Tony’s hand and walked up to the mother who was holding her brother. “Hey, don’t take Petey away from me again or I’ll hurt you.” 

“Morgan.” Tony warned and pulled the girl back against his side. “I’m so sorry for that. She’s just protective over her brother.” Tony held his hand out for the woman who was staring at him with pity and sadness. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about Ned.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Uh, I’m sorry. For everything that happened.” She said the last part with so much genuine concern and Tony could only imagine what was running through her head. 

Thankfully he didn’t have to respond because Peter was pulling on his hand while Morgan hung from his leg. “And this is my dad. But my real daddy. And this is Morgan. She’s six.” 

Tony’s heart just melted. Peter just introduced him as daddy and he didn’t even have to tell him to or correct him. It came out so naturally and that made him want to cry happy tears. 

He ruffled Peter’s curls and looked down at Morgan who had a death glare on both of the new comers. He already knew she was protective of her older brother but this just proved it even more. 

Just then, Pepper walked out with a huge smile on her face. She was so excited to put a face to the name of Ned. “Hello there. I’m Peter’s mommy and you must be Ned.” 

Ned gasped and turned to Peter with a huge smile on his face. “You have a mommy! You have a mommy, Peter.” 

Peter leaned against Pepper’s side and smiled proudly and after Pepper blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall, she looked over at Ned’s mom and shook her hand. “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Pepper.” 

“You are so beautiful. I’m sorry, it’s just, you’re very beautiful and I’m just so incredibly happy for Peter.” Ned’s mom shyly told Pepper but both parents could see how genuine she was. It was so nice to hear, to know that this woman cares so much about Peter. 

“Thank you so much. Come in, guys.” Pepper stepped aside so Tony picked Morgan up who was making grabby hands for him and stepped inside the house as well. “We have a dog so I hope you aren’t scared of them.” 

“What?! You have a dog?” Ned asked in disbelief and turned to Peter excitedly. “You’ve always wanted a dog!” 

Peter went to go lean against Tony’s side. “Yeah! His name is Asier but I don’t know where he is.” 

“My parents are staying with us for a bit so you’ll see them later, Ned.” Pepper told the boy while Tony shut the door and locked it behind them, just in case. He was extremely paranoid. 

“You have such a beautiful home.” Mrs. Leeds had said, admiring the high ceilings and layout. 

“Thank you so much. We love it here and the kids do too.” Pepper looked at Peter who was leaning up against Tony and looking rather tired. She knew he didn’t get a good night's sleep last night, like every night. 

“And Ned,” Peter began. “I have a big brother too. His name is Harley and he’s this big,” This stood on his tippy toes and reached his arms out to try and show how big Harley was. 

“Seriously?! You have a big brother too? That’s so cool, Peter. Can I see your bedroom?” Ned asked him, already reaching out to grab onto Peter’s hand in his excitement. 

Peter nodded his head. “Uh huh. I’ll show you.” He grabbed onto the boy's hand and started leading him up the stairs then Morgan started to kick her legs out to be put on the ground so she could go with them so Tony let her. 

“I’m so glad they could see each other again.” Mrs. Leeds had said. “Those two are the best of friends, always hanging out with each other in and after school so when Peter didn’t show up, Ned was really worried.” 

Tony could only imagine. He knew first hand. “Yeah, I’m sure this is all pretty crazy for you with everything you just found out.” 

She laughed dryly and shook her head at the floor. “Yes. I can’t even begin to explain.” It looked like she wanted to say a lot more but she didn’t. Instead, she looked up at Pepper and grabbed onto her hands. “I am so so sorry for everything you went through. I knew… that man for years and I-I had no idea. If I’ve only picked up on all the signs that seem so obvious now…” 

Pepper was shaking her head. “No. Don’t say that. How could you have known anything. It’s not your fault but that’s all in the past now, Peter is where he belongs which is with us.” 

Ned’s mom reached out to pull Pepper in for a hug and when she pulled away, she stared at Tony. “Peter looks exactly like you. I can see where he gets those big brown eyes from and his brown curly hair. Yep. Identical.” 

That was the best compliment that Tony could ever receive. “Thank you so much. Yeah, our oldest looks like his mom so I got Pete.” 

“Well, I hope to meet him when I pick Ned up later on tonight.” She had said and stared at both parents a bit longer than necessary. 

“He will be here. It was so nice to finally meet you. We’ll have Ned ready for you at eight.” Tony unlocked the door for her and they said their final goodbyes before the door was being shut and locked again. “She seems nice.” 

“What a lovely woman.” Pepper admitted and went to go walk upstairs. “Let’s go check on the boys.” 

The two of them began walking upstairs and headed into Peter’s bedroom to find Peter sitting on the floor next to Ned with a whole lego set dumped out in between them. Morgan was sitting next to Peter and staring at Ned, giving him a death glare. 

Tony thought it would be a good idea to give the boys some space so he walked into the room and held his hand out for Morgan. “Let’s let them play while we go downstairs for a bit.” 

Morgan looked over at her dad but shook her head. “No.” 

“Let them catch up and play together. You can play with them later.” Tony didn’t wait for Morgan to come with them, he walked into the room and picked her up then left the two boys to it. 

Peter made sure Tony left the door open as he left and he did so he went back to building the lego platform. 

“I missed you so much, Peter.” Ned said and put down the lego parts that he had begun building. 

“I missed you too. How’s um, how’s school?” Peter asked but he didn’t take his attention away from his legos. He needed to keep his hands busy. 

Ned thought about what to say first. “Umm… it’s boring without you. I have to eat lunch with Daniel and Micheal and they aren’t as fun as you.” 

A slight smile appeared on his lips. Those two boys were boring but they could be funny at times. “Yeah, sometimes they’re fun.” 

Ned reached over to grab another lego piece so he could continue building. “Um… what about your dad? I mean…” 

Peter paused. He knew who Ned was talking about. “He’s not my dad.” Peter continued building. “He’s just… just Steve now.” 

Peter didn’t like talking or thinking about that man. He hated how he still loved him in a way, it made him sick so he didn’t want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to forget that part of his life but that was his whole entire life. 

It wasn’t fair. 

He could have been raised with so much but instead, he lived a life with his kidnapper who kept him away from so much. 

“Yeah.” Ned spoke sadly. “I'm sorry. It’s just… I have to get used to that now.” Ned stopped building to glance up at Peter. “Did you know at all? That your d- Steve wasn’t your real dad?” 

Peter shook his head and snapped together two pieces. 

“Oh. That’s so scary. I mean… to think of. He- he like… kidnapped you and we all had no idea.” The ten year old was unaware of Peter’s distress so he continued. “I mean, I didn’t know. And I saw him so many times and he took us out for like, ice cream and stuff.” 

Peter tossed his piece on the floor when it wasn’t fitting the way he wanted. “I know, Ned. How do you think I feel? I was lied to my whole life and-and told me mom was dead. You know how badly I wanted a mommy. Like you have.” 

“I know. But… you have a mom now. Right? What’s her name again?” Ned asked, eyeing Peter. 

Peter sighed and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Pepper.” 

“Yeah. Pepper. She’s nice.” 

Peter nodded. She was nice. He missed out on so much and he hated that. He hated Steve so much. 

It wasn’t fair. 

Ned spoke up again. “My mom told me who your parents are.” Peter looked over at him, confused. “Your dad owns Stark Industries. I guess your mom does too but it’s worth like millions. Or billions. I can’t remember. I think my mom and dad said it’s worth billions.” 

Peter blinked at him. 

“You’re rich, Peter.” Ned explained to him. “You’re like… so rich. Your family is worth so much money like… a gazillion lego sets.” 

“Oh. Well… I knew that my dad owned Stark Industries because he told me but, I didn’t know it was worth so much.” Peter shrugged. It did make sense since their house was huge and the cabinets were always filled with food. 

Ned stared at Peter with wide eyes for a few seconds. “Peter. Don’t you get it? You’re like, a billionaire.” 

That didn’t really phase him. He had been living with his real family for about two weeks and that wasn’t what was important to him. What was important to him was the fact that they loved him and didn’t try to deprive him from things that he never got to do before. 

“I don’t care. I like it here.” Peter smiled at the lego he had in his hands. “They include me in everything and-and Harley’s teaching me how to swim. I’m not good at it though.” 

“That’s good. Maybe now you can sleep over at my house.” Ned teased him but Peter didn’t find it funny. It was so hard for Peter to watch all his friends have sleepovers while he was forced to stay at home in his bedroom. “Sorry.” 

Peter shook his head. “It’s fine. Hey, do you wanna go see the pool? It’s so cool.” 

“Yes!” Ned cheered and jumped up on his feet so both boys ran downstairs and towards the back door but it was locked. 

“Can you open the door? Me and Ned wanna see the pool. I told him that Harley was teaching me how to swim.” Peter explained to Tony who was walking over to the door to unlock it for them. 

“Yeah, and did you tell him that I will be the one to teach you how?” Tony ruffled his kids hair to mess with him but he knew Peter liked it. He watched both boys run out and then Morgan was body checking him to run out as well. “I’m gonna go out there with them so no one falls in.” He told Pepper and stepped outside. 

Peter squatted down by the pool to put his hands in. “See? It’s so warm.” 

Ned looked around at the backyard as if he were in Disney world. “Woah. Your backyard is so big and nice.” 

Peter rolled up his pants so he could put his feet into the water with Morgan copying him. “Come sit with us, Ned. It’s so nice.” 

Ned sat down next to Peter and put his feet in but then Peter’s eyes were going wide because he suddenly felt his pee start to come out so he stood up and ran towards the house. “My pee pee.” 

Tony knew what that meant. He opened the door for Peter who ran straight for the bathroom. “Peter’s going pee, Pep.” 

He shut the door behind him and walked over to the edge of the pool to sit next to Morgan. Ned didn’t even seem phased at Peter running away so suddenly so Tony wondered what the boy knew. 

“Does Peter always do that?” Tony asked him but he hated the fact that he had to ask a ten year old boy about his son. That’s not the way it should work. 

Ned nodded his head. “Yeah. Peter’s always forgetting to go pee. Once, when I was at his house, I mean… his old house, um, we went to the park and he peed his pants and so we had to go back so he could change but then I had to go home.” 

So it wasn’t something new that started then, that was good to know that they weren’t the cause of it. “Oh no. Was that recently?” 

Ned thought about it. “Um… maybe like two months ago or something.” 

“Alright.” Tony nodded. So maybe something recent then. He didn’t know but will ask the doctor when they go in the next few days. 

Peter ran out of the house after that so Tony turned to check his pants to see if Pepper had to change him and when he saw that Peter was wearing the same pants, he smiled and waited for Peter to come join them again. 

He stood behind Morgan and even though there was a space for him between her and Ned, he wanted to sit next to Tony so he kneeled down to push Morgan over. “Move over. I wanna sit here.” 

“Hey. Ahh!” Morgan let out a high pitch scream when Peter started pushing her so Tony pulled Peter’s hand away from her arm. 

“Pete, what do you want to do?” Tony asked. He would never say no to Peter willingly sitting beside him. 

Peter continued to push Morgan away while the six year old screamed. “I wanna sit next to you and not Morgan. Move!” 

“Peter, don’t push her.” Tony held his hands out for the girl. “Come sit on my other side, Morg, so that Peter can sit next to me and Ned.” 

Morgan let her dad pick her up and set her on the other side while Peter sat himself down directly beside Tony and made sure that their legs were touching. Tony watched him, it wasn’t necessarily a new thing, with Peter wanting to sit close to him all of the sudden but it was a new thing during the day since it was mostly mornings and night where he got extra cuddly and wanted lots of physical contact. 

Peter patted the spot next to him so Ned could move closer on his other side. “Do you still have your lego bear, Peter?” Ned had asked him. 

Peter shook his head. He didn’t have anything from his old life. Maybe that was for the better though. “No. That’s okay though.” 

“Yeah. It was cool though.” Ned shrugged and kicked his feet in the water a bit and then there were voices behind them so they all turned around to see Harley walking out with Asier. 

“Harley! You came back.” Peter used Tony’s shoulder to pull him up and then ran over to greet his older brother. “Where did you go?” 

Harley ruffled Peter’s hair and squeezed his cheeks together. “Of course I came back. I went to the grocery store to get a few things.” 

“Oh. Did you have fun? What did you get?” Peter asked him. He hated when people had fun without him so he wanted to know everything. 

“Nah. It was boring. I’d much rather have been here.” Harley looked over at the new face by the pool and he knew who that was. “Introduce me to your friend, Pete.” 

“Oh yeah. He’s Ned.” Peter sat back down to join everyone by the edge of the pool with Harley following him and kneeling down. 

“Hi Ned. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Harley held out his hand to shake with the boy. “Pete’s been talking about you nonstop.” 

Ned smiled shyly at him. “Yeah. I missed him too.” 

Harley sat himself down next to Ned but Asier was following him over and licking Ned’s face to see who this new person was. “This is my doggie. He likes you.” Peter had told Ned. He sat up on his knees so he could pet Asier’s head then the dog was running away again. 

“He’s cute. I like him. And you’ve always wanted a dog too, Peter.” Ned told his best friend. Peter grinned. He had it all now. 

“Let me see him.” Came a voice behind them so they all turned around once again to see Alice and Mike walking out. “There he is. You must be Ned.” 

Ned nodded his head. “H-hi. It’s nice to um, meet you.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ned. A friend of Peter’s is a friend to all of us.” Mike patted the boy on the back and ruffled Peter’s hair at the same time. “You boys having fun?” 

Peter turned to face him. “Yeah, we were building legos in my room before.” 

“Wow. You’ll have to show me what you built later on.” 

“We didn’t finish it though.” Peter told him and sat back down so he could put his feet back in the pool instead of squatting down. 

Ned turned to him to start talking again and Peter enjoyed this moment. It was weird, Ned was there for him in his old life and now in his new, better life. He was happy and he hoped he always felt that way. 

.  
.  
.

The night had come and went just as fast as it began. 

Peter and Ned had so much fun together and both Tony and Pepper could see how happy each boy was to be able to see each other again. They had a strong feeling that Ned was going to be coming over again very soon. 

After they all said bye to Ned when his mom came to pick him up, Tony was in charge of bathing the kids and getting them to bed which he did with the help from Alice since Pepper was talking with Harley. 

It thankfully didn’t take long to get Peter into bed because he was already beyond exhausted from his day so he only had to sit with Peter for twenty minutes. 

By the time he went downstairs, everyone else had already gone up to bed so it was only Pepper left. His favourite person to see at the end of a long day, or any day for that matter. 

“Hey,” She said. “Did he stay down after I said goodnight to him?” She asked. She had gone up to say goodnight to Peter but then left after that, leaving Tony to do the rest. 

Tony sat himself down and pulled her against him. “Yeah. He was really tired.” 

Pepper nodded but pulled away from him to grab her phone off the coffee table. “So, while I was talking to Harley, Natasha texted me.” She pulled up the text to show Tony. 

Can you call me when you get the chance? I know it’s late but I have new information regarding Roger. 

Tony read the text over again. New information regarding his child’s kidnapper. He didn’t know what it could possibly be, whether it’s good or bad news. 

“Alright. Let’s call her outside so we don’t wake the kids up.” Tony got up first and headed into the back. He felt his hands start to sweat like they always did whenever Natasha had news for them. 

He didn’t know what he expected any bad news to be and the same for good news. He just wanted the man locked up where he could never hurt his kid ever again. 

The two of them sat down on the patio chairs and placed the phone in front of them but none of them made a move to make the call. 

“I um, do you wanna call?” Tony asked. He just wanted this all to be done. He wanted to be free from this. For Peter to be free from this. 

Pepper responded by picking up the phone and dialling Natasha’s number so they waited for her to answer. She always answered them quickly but this time, Tony didn’t want her to answer. 

“Oh great. I wasn’t sure if you guys were too busy tonight.” Natasha had said. 

“No, the kids went to bed quickly tonight.” Pepper told her and waited for Natasha to start speaking. 

“Okay so, Rogers has been in a holding cell since he was brought in and tomorrow he is going to have a court order where we will find out his sentencing.” Natasha said without any warning. It took both parents a few seconds to process everything. 

“He’s- That’s happening tomorrow?” Tony didn’t know that would be happening so soon. He had tried to keep up to date with all the legal aspects of the case but it was hard when he now had three kids. 

“Yeah. Tomorrow at eleven. It’s up to you if you want to come and it’s up to you if you want to bring Peter.” She had said and it gave both parents a lot to think about. “Although, as always, things always fall through so the court hearing will be happening tomorrow but it might not be his sentencing.” 

“Fuck. He kidnapped our child. He took him away from us and raised him as his own!” Tony smacked the table so Pepper reached out to hold his hand. “He fucking… he deserves to rot in that prison cell for the rest of his pathetic life.” 

“He’s mentally unstable, Tony. He likely will get sent to a mental institution.” Natasha explained to them and he knew that. No one just kidnaps a child and goes through all that trouble to raise them as if they are the parent. It was fucking messed up and crazy. 

“Yeah. Peter’s not coming. I’m not putting him through that.” Tony was not going to bring Peter back to the courthouse. No way. 

“That’s okay. It’s up to you guys.” Natasha said. “Are you going to be coming?” 

Tony and Pepper both looked at each other. He wanted to see that man get locked away. He wanted to see the moment that man’s world comes crumbling down all around him like the day they left the park without Peter. When he had to come to terms that his baby was gone. Taken from them. 

To come back to an empty, quiet house. To listen to Harley ask where his brother was and not fully understanding why Peter was gone and seeing all the baby toys around the house, the extra diapers and wipes lying around and his crib sitting in his bedroom that they never got around to changing into his toddler bed just yet. 

He wanted to look that man in the eye as he got locked away and let Steve know that he was the one going home to Peter, him, not Steve. 

“Yes. We’ll be there.” Tony looked at Pepper as he spoke. Pepper’s parents can watch Peter for a few hours tomorrow and then they will tell Peter the outcome later on that night. 

“Alright. It’s okay if you change your mind. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” With that, Natasha hung up so Tony shut the phone off and leaned back in his chair. 

“He took everything from us.” Tony had said. “He didn’t just take Peter, he took Harley’s parents away from him. We spent so much of our time finding Peter and looking desperately for any kind of leads we could get and we unintentionally gave Harley less attention.” 

Pepper always felt guilty for that and she always will. “I know. But, we have a good relationship with him and now, he understands why we did it.” 

Tony wanted to try to make it up to his oldest son but the truth was that Harley was practically an adult. He was the most mature sixteen year old that Tony has ever met and he’s met a lot of Harley’s friends. They are constantly getting compliments on how mature Harley is but sometimes he doesn’t want to hear it. 

He’s mature because his baby brother was kidnapped and his parents put more of their attention into finding Peter than the child they still had. It wasn’t that they loved Harley any less because they didn’t but when Peter was taken from them, in the beginning they never wanted to give up because that was the highest chance of them finding their boy again. 

Then as each day passed by, that was yet another day without Peter and the less chance they had at Peter coming back to them alive. 

“He’s an adult now. Don’t you see how mature he is? I know he thinks it’s his responsibility to protect his younger siblings now so he’s not going to be able to live his life with that heavy weight on his shoulders. He’s sixteen.” 

He knew how protective Harley was of his younger siblings. When Morgan was first born, he used to put a bathing suit on and join her in the bath so she could stay safe. She would lay on her baby bath seat and Harley used to keep pushing her tiny kicking feet up on the bath seat so she wouldn’t drown, no matter how many times Tony and Pepper had told him she wouldn’t drown. 

He would respond with, I don’t want to lose her this time. I want to grow up with her. 

It broke both parents' hearts and it was something that would forever remain in their memory. 

“I spoke with him tonight about it but we can’t stop it. No matter what, as the oldest, he’s going to feel like he has to keep them safe. Even if that’s not his job too.” Pepper spoke with Harley for a good hour about this. About how he doesn’t need to worry so much and he needs to live his teenage life but he was stubborn. 

“I’ll take him out driving tomorrow night if we get the chance.” Tony didn’t know how tomorrow would go. 

He was about to start speaking again but the back door was being opened followed by the sound of one of his kids crying and he knew who that was. 

Peter. 

Tony held his arms out for the crying child who was being carried down by Harley. “Come here, Pete.” Harley handed Peter to his dad so Tony let the boy cling to him and cry into his chest. “What’s wrong?” 

“I was awake already and I heard him crying so I went into his room and he was just crying on his bed.” Harley explained to them. He cupped the back of Peter’s head and moved to leave. 

“Thanks, Harls. Go to sleep, please. You shouldn’t even be up.” Tony told him, knowing how much Harley hated to be told when to go to bed. 

He patted Peter’s back and waited for him to calm down a bit. Pepper had moved seats so she could sit next to them both. “What’s wrong, baby? Did you have a nightmare?” 

Peter pulled away from Tony and nodded his head. “Y-y-yeah! ‘Dare- there…” Peter pointed weakly to the back door and started crying harder so Tony rubbed at his back again to try and get him to calm down. It must have been one hell of a nightmare. “The bad man i-is in my r-r-room! He’s in there.” 

Tony looked over at Pepper and continued to rub Peter’s back. “It was just a bad dream. There’s no one in your bedroom, baby.” 

Peter shook his head. “He is! He was-was standing over my bed! And-a-and tellin’ me to go with him!” Peter dissolved into sobs so Tony repositioned Peter on his lap so he could hold him more securely. 

“Night terrors?” Pepper whispered to Tony who just shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea but that would be his best guess. 

“How about you and mommy sit on the couch and have some warm milk while daddy goes upstairs to check and make sure everything is all clear?” Tony suggested. It must have been a very realistic dream for Peter to be this scared. He’s never seen Peter so scared before. 

Peter continued to cry but nodded his head so Tony stood up with him, followed by Pepper. They all walked inside and locked the doors then Tony sat Peter on the kitchen counter so he could watch Pepper make his milk bottle while he went to go check Peter’s bedroom. 

“I’ll be right back.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead and left to go check Peter’s bedroom. When he got to the top of the stairs, he found Peter’s blanket so he picked that up and walked down the hallway. 

His bedroom was empty, as he expected. 

He checked under his bed and in his closet but there was no bad man there. There weren’t any other hiding places in Peter’s room since he could still see everything. 

Just as he was about to leave, he saw that the curtains were open a bit so he went over to shut them but found what once was a small lego house on the floor but it had been crushed as if someone had stepped on it. 

He picked it up and placed it on Peter’s dresser, shaking his head at how clumsy Pete and Ned are. 

When he returned back downstairs, he found Peter drinking his warm milk, cuddled up against Pepper’s side. He walked over to them and kneeled down in front of Peter. “No one is up there. I looked everywhere.” 

Peter pulled the bottle from his mouth and shook his head. “The bad man is in there. He was!” 

Tony nodded his head. “There was no one in your room, baby. You had a bad dream that seemed so realistic and scary that you woke up and you were confused.” 

Peter put the water bottle back into his mouth to continue drinking but he was still stubborn and shook his head. 

Tony sat himself down next to Peter which immediately caused Peter to sit up and crawl onto his lap with a content hum. “Aw, Pete.” The father wrapped his arms around Peter and stayed like that, enjoying this moment in time while he could. 

After a few minutes of the three of them sitting there, Tony turned to make eye contact with Pepper. “Should we head up now?” 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She whispered and stood up. Tony followed behind, lifting Peter onto his hip as he stood up so he could carry Peter back to bed and hope that he stayed sleepy. 

Once they got to the top of the stairs and went to turn into Peter’s bedroom, Peter dropped his water bottle and started freaking out. He turned his head into Tony’s neck and tried to hide himself in his arms. “No! Noooo! I don’t want to!” 

“Shh, you’re gonna wake your siblings up. Shh, it’s okay.” Tony sat down on Peter’s bed so he could try to lay the ten year old down but Peter didn’t let him and was kicking, trying to get away. 

“No! He’s gonna come back and t-take me!” Peter cried out. He kept looking towards the window as if someone was going to appear out of nowhere and take him. 

Pepper went to go check the window just to show Peter that nothing was there. “No one is here and no one is coming, Peter. We promise you.” 

Peter tried to get Tony to hold him again. “No. The b-bad man!” 

Tony knew that Steve had told Peter that the bad man was coming to take him away. He used it as a tactic to scare him and it worked and was still working now. 

“Peter, it’s just your imagination playing games on you. You’re over tired so lie down and shut your eyes-” Tony was trying to lay Peter back down but he started crying harder and let out a scream so Tony lifted him back into his arms and stood. “Okay. What do you want to do?” 

Peter wrapped his arms around his neck and tried to stop his crying. “Sleep with you.” 

Tony didn’t expect that. Peter hadn’t slept with them in seven years. Since the last night they were together as a family. 

He looked at Pepper just to make sure it was okay. He didn’t know why she would ever say no to the idea but he was a bit shocked by the request so he wasn’t thinking straight. 

“Okay, Pete. You can sleep with us.” Tony bent down to grab the water bottle off the floor and left the bedroom to go into theirs. 

He deposed Peter onto the bed with the rest of his milk and tucked him into the middle of the bed. “You go to sleep here.” Tony turned around to look at Pepper. “I’ll stay with him while you get ready.” 

He climbed onto the bed beside Peter and brushed the curls from his face, trying to remember the last time they did this. He used to sleep with toddler Peter and wake up to feet in his face or a diapered butt sitting on top of him. It was always something with Peter. 

“I love you so much, Petey.” He whispered and pressed a kiss onto Peter’s now dry cheeks. He saw that Peter’s eyes were shutting but he still had the water bottle in his mouth so he gently took it from him and placed it on the bed, knowing it wouldn’t spill. 

Peter shut his eyes and turned his head into Tony’s chest where he fell into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don’t know how to end this fic, I don’t plan on ending it anytime soon because I still have soooo many more ideas but I just don’t know how to end it. 
> 
> Also,,,, does anyone know if I ever mentioned the time this is taking place? Like month? I think it was September or October? 
> 
> I can’t remember because I’m currently writing like 443544 other fics so I don’t know what time it is in this fic


	20. I will fight for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m off work for 14 days now:( can anyone guess why,,, my co worker came into work for two days knowing she had covid and now I might have it but anyways on a positive note, I have more time to write and write and write

Tony woke up to Peter’s face pressed right up against his own so he moved away from him and rubbed at his eyes. He thought back to last night and smiled at the fact that Peter had slept with them. 

It was nice to have their baby back and although they couldn’t encourage Peter climbing into their bed every night, it was definitely something that could happen every once and awhile. 

He checked his phone for the time but groaned once he saw all the emails and missed texts from work. Nope. That was a problem for another day. Not today. 

With that thought in mind, he suddenly remembered what today was going to entail. 

He was not looking forward to it at all because the day held so much uncertainty and potential heartbreak for the Stark’s, to hear the possibility that Rogers was going to get let off. 

It was extremely unlikely but possible. When Peter went missing, it was obvious to him that his three year old boy was in fact kidnapped and along with that fact came all the possible reasons someone would want to kidnap a child and every single one of those reasons were not good ones. Although he couldn’t stop thinking about it. For seven years straight, those thoughts purged his mind. 

Now, he was going to see the monster who had caused all of this pain onto him. He wanted to see Steve pay for it. 

He rolled over in bed so he could look at Peter who had his thumb in his mouth. He hadn’t realized it before but it was loosely hanging there with a puddle of drool leaking from his mouth. 

Tony didn’t remove his thumb in hopes of keeping Peter asleep long enough for him to get ready for the day and get the kids up and ready for school. 

He knew it was going to be next to impossible to keep Peter asleep but it was worth a short. 

After getting ready himself, he walked into Morgan’s bedroom to get her up. Harley woke himself up and did everything himself which he was grateful for with now having two kids under fifteen to get ready. 

Tony wrapped Morgan in her favourite pink blanket and carried her downstairs so she could wake herself up on the couch while he got ready in the kitchen with lunches and breakfast but first, a coffee. 

An hour later, just as Tony was getting the kids out the door to get them in the car, Peter was walking down the stairs with his blanket tucked against his chest. Morgan, Harley and him stopped to look at Peter because they all knew they couldn’t just say goodbye and leave. 

“Good morning, Pete. Where’s mommy?” Tony asked. He had let Pepper sleep in a bit with Peter since he had help from both Alice and Mike in getting everything ready. 

Peter whined and brought his blanket up to his nose to sniff at it. “Where you goin’?” 

“School run but I’ll be back in a bit.” He told him but Morgan was pulling on his hand. 

“Come on, daddy! It’s movie day today.” Morgan whined and tugged harder. 

“I’ll see you after school, little man.” Harley reached over to ruffle Peter’s hair then took Morgan’s hand and left the house. 

Tony saw the moment in Peter’s eyes shatter as he watched his two siblings leave the house without him. He reached his arms out for Tony and started to cry but Pepper was rushing down the stairs to pick Peter up. He was bigger than Morgan but in a way, they almost felt like the same weight since Morgan was on the chubby side while Peter was under weight and tiny for his age. 

“I love you both. I’ll see you soon.” Tony felt awful leaving Peter like that but he had no choice. He had to drive his two other children to school. 

Pepper locked the door behind Tony and tried to calm Peter down. She knew the boy absolutely hated and maybe even feared people leaving the house and having fun without him and that he wanted to be a part of everything but he just couldn’t. 

She carried him into the kitchen and set him on his feet. “Daddy will be back soon.” She told him and opened the fridge to get some breakfast started but her mom already had that under control. “Oh. Thanks mom.” 

Peter wiped at his cheeks and held his blanket tighter. “And Morgan and Harley will come back?” 

“Yeah. After school they will.” She told Peter but he already knew. It was the same routine for the week and a bit. 

Peter stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and turned towards the front door, waiting for someone to walk through it. Pepper cheeked the time. It was 7:35am so they had a few hours to go before they had to leave for the courthouse. 

They would be leaving Peter but they weren’t going to lie to him about where they were going. It wasn’t fair to lie to him about something that involved him, especially after he was lied to his whole life. 

By the time breakfast was eaten, Peter was still looking longingly at the door, desperately wanting someone to come back and as if Tony knew, he walked in through the door at that time. 

Peter smiled a bit and waited for the man to walk into the kitchen which he did and headed straight for Peter. “Hey, buddy. Is it pyjama day today?” 

Peter shook his head and hid his face into his arm that was leaning against the back of the chair. 

“Let’s go get you dressed then. Come on, bud.” Tony held his hand out for Peter but he lifted his arms up for the man. 

“Carry.” Peter asked. He used his best puppy dog eyes on the man in hopes to get what he wanted. He was still tired, he didn’t want to walk all the way upstairs when he could easily get a ride up. 

Tony gave in. Of course he would give in. He was still making up for seven wasted years. “Alright. Up we go.” 

He lifted Peter up and carried him up the stairs to get him dressed and ready for the day but as time was getting closer and closer to the court hearing, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly anxious. He was going to be seeing his child’s kidnapper again. 

Once Peter was dressed, he walked with the boy back downstairs so him and Pepper could talk to him and explain what’s going to happen today. They both agreed that they wouldn’t lie to the boy, it wouldn’t be fair to him. 

“Let’s sit on the couch with mommy and have a little talk.” Tony picked Peter up and deposited him onto the couch but Peter was curling into a ball. 

“I know talks aren’t good. It’s something bad, isn’t it?” He asked, pulling his knees tighter against his chest. 

Tony waited for Pepper to sit down before they began. “Yeah, well, Pete,” Tony began. “I know there’s a lot of stuff that is happening that you don’t understand because it’s grown up stuff and it’s mine and mommy’s job to deal with it, not you.” 

Pepper took over. “So, what we are about to tell you, we are telling you because you deserve to know and we are never going to lie to you.” 

Peter nodded his head and waited anxiously for someone to say something. 

Tony continued again. “Steve Rogers is going to be at a courthouse today and mommy and I are going to go there as well because a judge is going to give him a sentence.” 

Peter shifted uncomfortably. “What’s the sentence going to be?” 

“We don’t know, baby. That’s why daddy and I are going to find out.” Pepper placed her hand on Peter’s leg for reassurance. 

“Well…” Peter thought about it. “What’s-what’s the sentence going to say then? Does he read it out to everyone?” 

Tony looked over at Pepper a bit confused. Did Peter mean an actual sentence? Like the cat jumped over the log. It sure seemed that way but they had to understand that they were talking to a child so that was their fault but that made it so much more harder. 

“No, Petey. Not an actual sentence.” Tony didn’t know how to explain this to Peter. Would it be too hard for him to hear the potential truth of Steve getting locked up in jail for the rest of his life? He didn’t know. 

Pepper thankfully took over for him. “Well, basically a judge is going to go over all the bad things that Steve has done.” 

“Like taking me away.” Peter said and Pepper didn’t know if he was asking or not but she answered anyways. 

“That’s right. The judge will determine if he is going to be punished for all the bad things he did. Like a timeout.” She tried to explain it to Peter as gently as possible. It would be extremely hard on Peter to use words like imprisonment or locked up in a jail cell for a life sentence. That would not be good for Peter to hear right now. 

Peter let it run through his mind for a little bit. “So… is he gonna get a timeout as his punishment?” 

Tony thought of a better way to explain it to Peter gently but he wanted to know something first. “Do you think that should be his punishment?” 

Peter shrugged. “Um… well, sometimes when I’m bad and he’d put me in timeout for a little bit of minutes but… I just maybe drew on the wall but… I didn’t take anyone away.” 

“Yeah. So his punishment should be a little bit more different than a timeout. And it is different, Steve will go away for a little bit, just like someone who gets put in a timeout. It’s just different because he’s an adult and did a very bad thing.” Tony wanted to fucking murder that man. He tried to dumb it down for Peter but he wanted Steve dead. He wanted him to rot in hell. 

Peter nodded. “Okay.” 

Both parents didn’t expect him to say anything more. He was processing a lot. 

Tony tucked a curl behind his ear and tiled his chin up so he could look at his face. “So mommy and I are going to be gone for a little bit but grandma and grandpa will stay here with you so you need to be good for them.” 

The ten year old shook his head and reached out for Tony. “No. Stay here.” 

“Shh, it’ll be okay. We’ll be back before you know it. Okay, baby?” Tony let Peter climb onto his lap but they expected this outcome from Peter. 

They also knew that he was crying from what he had just been told. It was a lot to take in for someone so young. 

Tony wished it didn’t have to be this way but that was just the harsh reality that Peter was going to have to find his way to grow up in. With the help and support of his family, of course. 

.  
.  
.

Leaving Peter at the door while he screamed and cried for them was not easy. 

In fact, it was one of the hardest things that Tony ever had to do but he knew Peter was safe and they were going to be coming home to him in just a few hours. 

It was time to put an end to this and see Steve Rogers locked away. 

All Tony could think about on the ride there was how this was going to end. The last time he saw the man was when Peter had chosen himself over Steve and he did not look happy one bit but it brought satisfaction for Tony to see. 

They arrived at the courthouse with both of their nerves reaching an all time high. It was going to be one hell of a day. 

They walked in hand in hand and met with Natasha at the front entrance. “Good morning. I’m so glad you guys decided to come. It will definitely help to close this chapter in your life and focus more on the healing.” 

Tony just wanted to see the man get what he deserves but it’ll never be enough. 

“It starts in forty minutes so you can wait inside or if you guys want to wait somewhere else that is fine but I do have to go handle some stuff with some lawyers.” Natasha dug through her bag and looked up at the two. “I will see you soon.” 

Tony watched her leave and turned to Pepper. “I’m not waiting in that courtroom. Let’s just… go somewhere else.” It was only forty minutes but of course now he was thinking of Peter and now they could have spent an extra forty minutes at home with him. 

The two of them walked up to the cafe to grab a coffee but Tony felt too sick to drink it. He knew that somewhere under this roof was Steve Rogers and the thought made him sick. 

He wondered what was running through that man’s head. Was he regretting everything? Did he miss Peter at all? Surely he had to miss Peter, he couldn’t even imagine the sickness that runs through anyone’s mind who could do what they’ve done and not miss the child. 

He didn’t even know why he was thinking that. It’s just, ever since Peter went missing, his mind races a million miles an hour and it’s extremely hard to shut it off. If not impossible to shut it off. 

Pepper reached over to hold his hand. “Stop it. Whatever you’re thinking, stop.” 

Tony ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Yeah. It doesn’t work that way, Pep.” 

“Then tell me what you’re thinking.” She let go of his hand and sat back. Tony hated to put his awful thoughts in her head. He once told her that he was sure that Peter was sold into child sex slavery because him and Natasha got a lead there two years after Peter went missing and when he told Pepper, she told Harley and left for a week. 

His thoughts were better left to himself. “Nothing. I just want this to be over so we can go home to our boy.” 

She sighed. “Me too. Soon. We’re here now so let’s do this.” 

“Yep.” He felt his phone vibrate so he immediately pulled it out, worried that it was Pepper’s parents calling about Peter but it was Natasha calling. “Natasha’s calling me.” He told Pepper and answered the phone. “Hello?” 

“Tony, so I’m talking with the lawyers and I know this is absolutely ridiculous but I have to ask you, Steve Rogers is requesting to speak with you.” She told him and Tony felt like that was a punch to the face. 

“What?” 

“I know. He wants to speak with you and because no sentencing has been set, he has that right. I have to ask you if you want to.” She explained to him. 

Tony shook his head and looked at Pepper who was staring at him, trying to find out what Natasha was saying. 

His first reaction was to say absolutely not but he wanted to look that man in the eye and tell him that he will never get to see Peter again. He wanted to see the look in the man’s eye when he finds out he lost. “Yes. I’ll see him.” 

Natasha was silent for a few moments. “You what?” 

“I’ll talk to Steve Rogers.” Tony told her then hung up the phone. That told Pepper everything she needed to know and she did not like that idea one bit. 

“Are you fucking crazy?!” She yelled at him. “You want to talk to the man who took Peter? You want to talk to the fucking bastard that kidnapped our fucking son?!” 

Tony stood up from the table and started walking but Pepper was following him. “Tony.” 

“Yes. I want to see him, Pepper. I want to see the look in his eyes when I tell him he will never see Peter again.” He told her then stopped walking so he could be face to face with her. “I want to watch the moment his world crumbles from around him the way it did for me the day he took my kid! He took Peter from me and now I want him to know he will never see Peter ever again.” 

He walked away from her after that. He knew that she knew that she couldn’t stop him. 

It was time to see that son of a bitch. 

He wasn’t excited to see the man, in fact he was quite nervous but it had to be done. For his own sake. He knew that Pepper didn’t want him going to see Rogers but in all honesty, he didn’t care because he knew that he had to go. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Natasha asked him after he met her at the court doors. He could see that she looked a bit nervous herself but he didn’t blame her because of what he was about to do. 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Before I change my mind. 

She didn’t say anything else and led him down a hallway. She walked him through a bunch of hallways and through door after door until he was led into a room with a board table in the middle. He didn’t plan on sitting down and having a formal meeting with Steve, that man didn’t deserve that. 

“They will bring him in-” 

Natasha didn’t get the chance to finish because the two doors were being opened and the sound of chains could be heard. 

He snapped his head in that direction and laid his eyes on the devil himself. 

Steve was dressed in a grey suit but it didn’t take away from the chains around his wrists. Serves him well, Tony thought and eyed the man. 

“You have five minutes. Start talking.” One of the guards had said and pushed Steve forward a bit but Steve didn’t seem phased by it and caught his balance. 

“I didn’t think they would actually allow me to see you.” Steve started. Tony wanted to punch the smirk off his face. 

“Well I’m here.” Tony said. He fisted his hands to try and stop himself from attacking Peter’s kidnapper. He knew he would if he wasn’t careful and that might just land himself in jail, away from Peter. He couldn’t have that. 

“Yeah… well, I wanted to tell you that you aren’t gonna take my son away from me.” Steve told him with so much confidence, it made Tony sick. 

“He is my son and it’s already done.” 

Steve shook his head slowly but not breaking eye contact with Tony. “No. No, Peter will always be mine-” 

“Don’t you fucking say his name again.” The billionaire had to hold back from wrapping his hands around Steve’s throat. He couldn’t get out of his head that this was the man that sadly knew more about Peter than he knew himself. That had more memories to remember him by. 

Steve chuckled and lifted his hands up but it got caught on the chain around his waist. “No matter what you do, he will come back to me in the end. I will win th-” 

Before Tony even realized what he was doing, he grabbed Steve by his collar and slammed him up against the wall. “Someone here is going to lose and it’s not going to be me again.” 

Guards were pulling Tony off of Steve after that but he pushed them off of him and slammed the door open to leave. He untied his tie because it was way too tight around his neck his liking and he wanted it off. 

He quickly walked down the hallway to get as far away from that room as possible. He didn’t feel any better. He didn’t regret going to see Steve but he definitely didn’t feel any better like he thought he was going to, in fact, now he felt sick. 

He looked Steve in the eyes, he looked the man who his kid once knew as dad in the eyes and all he saw was pure evil. 

There was a hand on his shoulder so he roughly pushed them off and turned around but sighed in relief when it was just Natasha. “What?” 

“Did that feel any better? Seeing him and speaking with him like that?” Natasha had asked but Tony knew what she was trying to do. She didn’t want him going. 

He didn’t answer, instead, he looked in the opposite direction and tried to fix his tie. 

“Now you know why the judge doesn’t want parents speaking with the people who harm their children.” 

Tony snapped his head to look at her. “That’s not the same thing. That’s when parents see the person responsible for raping and or killing their kid. Rogers didn’t do that to Peter.” 

Natasha sighed. “Not to that extent but he is causing you this pain. He’s the reason you never got to see your son for seven years. He’s the reason Harley grew up without a younger brother. He’s the reason your life is the way it is right now, the reason why we know each other and are taking right now. That man ruined your life and nothing else matters now but leaving here today and going back home to Morgan and Harley and Peter. Things are only going to get better if you let it.” 

Tony shut his eyes and covered them with his hand. She was right. Natasha was right as always but it was so hard to come to terms with the fact that is their reality now. 

“There is no guarantee that this life is easy, Tony, but you can make it beautiful with the complete family that you have at home.” 

Tony smiled at the mention of his family. What he would give to be at home with them right now, cuddled on the couch together watching some Disney movie that Morgan forced them all to watch. 

She rubbed his arm and gently pulled him in the direction of the courtroom. “Let’s go get this over with and then you can go home and move on.” 

Tony walked into the courtroom and spotted Pepper sitting there so he went and sat next to her without saying a word. Pepper must have sensed that he didn’t want to talk about it so she grabbed his hand and waited for it to begin. 

Seeing Steve walk into the room and having to see the man again was hard. He thought back to what Natasha told him and tried to hold onto that as the hearing started. 

By the time Steve was put up on the stand, his heart began to race. 

“Mr. Rogers,” The lawyer began. “Can you recount the day you kidnapped three year old Peter Stark from the park?” 

Tony felt a chill run up his spine at the question. It felt like a slap to the face. 

Steve stared at the man as if he had no life in his eyes. “I did not kidnap Peter Stark.” 

The lawyer walked closer to the stand. “You did. You raised him as your own for seven years.” 

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know who Peter Stark is. I have never heard of that name before.” 

The lawyer pulled up some papers and continued. “Alright. Peter Rogers.” 

Steve was still shaking his head. “I am sorry. I have no idea who that is.” 

Tony had no idea what was going on. Did Steve actually think he could get away with this. Was he actually pretending to not know who Peter was or was he just that messed up in the mind. 

The judge turned to face Steve. “Mr. Rogers. You took an oath.” 

Steve continued to stare straight ahead. The court was so silent you could hear a pin drop before he spoke again. “Peter Rogers is my son. I was the one who raised him, he is my son.” 

“You have kidnapped three year old Peter Stark from a park seven years ago. You then lied to the child and told him lies that he believed…”

It took two hours for a verdict to be reached. Tony was starting to get anxious as they got closer to it. He had to sit there and say nothing as he listened to Rogers speak about Peter as if he was the father. 

He could tell he was crazy. He knew that all along but listening to him speak, it proved it all the more. 

It came time for the verdict and to say he was on the edge of his seat would be an understatement. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to see Steve Rogers locked away for life. 

He held his breath as the judge read out his verdict. 

Guilty. 

Steve Rogers found guilty of child kidnapping, endangerment of a child, unlawful and dishonest acts under the law. Sentenced to 65 years in prison with no chance of parole and will have a debriefing to see if he will be committed into a mental institution. 

Pepper broke down next to him and started crying happy tears and Tony just wrapped his arm around her. He was still trying to process everything. 

He won. 

He won this time and Steve lost. 

He stood up as he watched guards grab Steve Rogers and lock him back into the chains and lead him out of the courtroom. Tony made eye contact with him and got to see the moment it dawned on the man that he wasn’t going to see Peter ever again. 

Tony had won. He was the one who was going to go home and see Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know anything about court and law even tho I took two years law etc I knowwww the lawyer questions are leading questions and not what they would ask but this isn’t law class so oh well 
> 
> Also I had to split this chapter into two so it wouldn’t be that long, I know you guys are waiting to find out what happens with the bad man situation which will be in the next chapter:) so I don’t keep you guys waiting too long I’ll post it on Sunday


	21. I’m stumbling in the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is extra long!! I’m so excited to see what you guys think ahhhh

Peter was having a harder time with both Tony and Pepper leaving than he thought he would. 

It was hard to see both Harley and Morgan leave the house to go to school and have fun with their friends and recess and then to have to say goodbye to Tony and Pepper who had been there for him since the very beginning. 

He missed all four of them. 

Asier seemed to be missing them as well since he hadn’t left his side since his parents left him. Or maybe Asier could sense that he was sad, it was probably that because he was trying to hold in his tears so he didn’t start crying for the hundredth time that day. 

His grandparents were nice. Peter was still getting used to actually having a grandma and grandpa but it was hard to be happy when he was missing everyone else so much. 

So when Alice walked into the living room telling him that it was time to go pick up his siblings from school, he was more than happy to do that. 

“I can’t wait to see them! I’m gonna ask Morgan if she went out for recess since it was raining today and usually when it rains, well, always when it rains, we have indoor recess which is also kinda fun.” Peter explained to Alice while he put his shoes on, tying them up just like Tony had taught him. 

“You can ask her when we pick her up. Maybe she has some fun stories for you.” Alice had said and held out Peter’s sweater for him since it was starting to get cold out. 

The three of them walked to the van together so Alice opened up the back door for Peter to climb in. “Do you need help with your car seat?” 

Peter shook his head and climbed in. “No. I can do it.” He sat in his car seat and grabbed the seatbelt to put on. Tony had told him that he was big enough to do it on his own and he found that he actually liked doing it by himself. It was fun because before Steve had always done it for him but he liked doing it by himself now. 

Once his seatbelt was on properly, Alice shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat for Mike to drive. “Hey, Pete, do you want to pick the song? You can be the DJ.” 

“Yeah! Put on um… party in the USA!” Peter loved that song. Him and Morgan were dancing to it the other day and screaming it on the top of their lungs. 

He kicked his legs in his seat to dance to the music while he looked out the car window. He doesn’t think he’s ever been in a van before he went to live with his family but he loves it since it has so much free space and when everyone is inside, he feels so safe and loved. 

As well as the huge windows. That’s always cool. 

Before he knew it, they were pulling up to Harley’s school and parked out front at the pickup spot. Peter loved coming for school pickups. It was definitely one of his favourite things to do although he did really miss going to school. He missed learning new things and being with his friends. 

It only took five minutes for Harley to come out of the school and make his way over to the car. He opened the back door and immediately smiled upon seeing Peter. “Hey, Pete. What’s up?” 

He tossed his bag into the van and shut the door then went to the back seats to go sit. Tony told him briefly what was going on today and all day he couldn’t get it out of his head. He just wanted to know what was going on and hated being kept in the dark. 

Peter tried to turn around in his seat to look at him. “Today me and grandma made brownies together.” 

“Woah. They better be ready to eat when I get home.” Harley teased. 

The four of them chatted about each other’s day on the way to go pick up Morgan and then Alice was getting out of the car to pick the six year old up. 

“Wa bam! I’m here!” Morgan yelled after ripping the back door open. She squealed when she saw Peter and climbed into the van to hug the boy. “Petey! I missed you all day.” 

Peter hugged his sister and pulled his feet back up on his car seat. “Did you have recess today because of the rain?” 

Morgan got into her own car seat and let Alice buckle her up before shutting the back door. “No. All day we were inside and it wasn’t even raining for last recess. I was so mad. Can we go to the park?” 

“Yeah! Park! Park!” Peter cheered. He loved the park that was near the house. It was so much fun and he has a lot of fun memories being there. 

“We leave to go back home tomorrow morning so we might not have time for the park tonight because we have to pack.” Mike said but Alice slapped his arm. 

“Nonsense. I have to get dinner started so your mom and dad don’t have to worry about that but then I will meet you guys at the park. Sound good?” Alice turned in her seat to look at Peter and Morgan who were practically vibrating with excitement. 

Getting home and changing out of their school uniforms didn’t take that long since Morgan was too excited to stall and Harley was old enough to get ready without help. 

“Harley, are you going to hold Asier’s leash?” Mike asked with Asier almost as excited to leave as Peter and Morgan were. 

“I want to.” Peter said and tried to reach for the leash but Harley took it from him. “Hey.” 

“Asier’s really strong, Peter. He will drag you if you don’t hold his leash tightly.” Harley explained to Peter and pulled him in for a half hug since he knew how Peter got when he didn’t get his way. 

“Fine.” Peter turned to start banging on the door so they could leave already. 

On the wall to the park, Harley pulled out his phone to take a picture of Peter and Morgan walking ahead of him and then he sent it to his parents, telling them where they were going. 

Once they crossed the road, Peter and Morgan let go of each other’s hands and started running across the field to get to the park. “Race you to the swings!” 

“I’m so fast! I’m like a lion!” Morgan yelled and tried to outrun Peter but Peter was faster. 

“I’m like a Cheetah!” Peter shot back and beat his sister to the swings. He sat on one and started to swing his legs to get some air but Morgan was stopping him. “Ahh! Hey, stop it!” 

“You cheated! I wanted to win.” Morgan smacked Peter on the arm so Peter grabbed where she slapped and felt his eyes start to water. He hated when Morgan hit him. 

He got off the swing and immediately ran over to Mike to tell on Morgan. “She hit me. Punish her. I was-I was on the swing and Morgan hit me.” Peter grabbed onto his grandpa's arm and pointed over at Morgan who was standing by the swings and looking at him. 

“Morgan. Get over here and say sorry to Peter.” Mike sat himself down on the park bench and waited for Morgan to ever so slowly make her way towards Peter. 

When she finally walked over, she looked at her feet. “I’m sorry, Peter.” 

“Okay.” Peter stopped rubbing his arm and looked towards the swings again. “Let’s go swing now.” 

“Yeah!” Morgan ran off with Peter to go swing and Harley let Asier run off his leash to go splash in the water in the forest and roll in the grass. 

“You know, you and Peter used to be like that.” Mike told Harley who sat down next to him. “Even though you’re a lot older than Peter, you two still loved to play together. He used to follow you around everywhere and you let him.” 

Harley remembered that. He remembered a lot about his little brother in the short time he knew him. He remembered he used to help his parents give him a bath and even insisted on holding Peter’s head above the water every time so he didn’t go under. 

Then Peter was taken from them and shortly after he started doing that with her. 

If he thinks hard enough, he can even remember the day at the park. The last day they were a family of four. Maybe it’s just because he had to tell the same story over and over again and listen to his parents tell it but he’s sure he remembers every single detail. 

He remembers he was playing with Peter but he wanted to go on the monkey bars and since Peter was too small, the toddler had run off to find something else to play with and that was the last time he had seen his baby brother. 

He looked over at Peter and smiled weakly. After all these years, here they were, back at the park. 

“Yeah. I know, grandpa. I’m gonna go over there with them.” He told Mike and left the leash to go play with his siblings. When he got to the swings, he laughed at the way the two of them were sitting on it. They had a leg on either side of the plastic and was swinging from side to side. “You guys are crazy.” 

Peter turned to him and started giggling at what they were doing. Harley pulled out his phone and took a short video clip to send to their parents, knowing that they really appreciated the updates since they were on the way home now. 

“Petey, let’s go in the slides now. Come, Harls.” Morgan held a hand out for Harley to stop so he lifted her off the swing and did the same for Peter then followed them onto the play structure. 

“Tag! You’re it!” Morgan said to Harley so he playfully sighed and started counting to ten to give the two of them a chance to run. 

Peter took off in the other direction of Morgan so he could get a better position to run away from Harley in. He listened for him to count to ten then Harley was turning in his direction first and going to chase him but Peter started screaming and laughing for him to attack Morgan first. He wanted to be the winner. 

Peter climbed down on the plastic hotdog rope and almost fell on his butt but he caught his balance and started to run across the field, away from the two of them. 

When he got out of breath, he sat down to catch his breath and started picking the grass out. 

Back at the park, Mike was on the phone with Tony since he had called to get an update on what was happening but he saw Peter going too far so he yelled over to him. “Peter! You’re too far! Come back to the park!” 

“What’s Peter doing?” Tony asked through the phone, incredibly frustrated that he wasn’t there. “Did he listen?” 

“Yeah. He just ran out on the field but he’s walking back now… we’ll, crawling across the field.” Mike shook his head fondly at Peter’s strange antics. 

“That’s good. We’re still about fifteen minutes away but we’ll park the car and walk to the park.” Tony had said but he wanted to stay on the phone with Mike just to make sure everything was okay. 

Mike saw a rather large looking man walking across the field and over to Peter so he sighed. “One second. Peter! Stand up and walk to the park!” 

“What’s he-” 

Tony was cut off by Mike. “There’s a man walking over to him so I gotta-” 

“A man? What man? Is he talking to Peter?” Tony stepped on the gas a little bit harder and felt his heart start to speed up while Pepper started freaking out in the passenger seat. 

Across the field, Peter laughed as he crawled towards the park. It felt funny and Harley was too busy trying to grab Morgan so it looked like he was going to win. 

He heard his grandpa yelling at him to stand up so Peter sat up on his knees. Just as he was about to stand up, he felt a hand on his shoulder so he quickly turned to see who it was and his heart dropped. 

“Bucky?” Peter couldn’t believe who he was looking at. “Bucky. You’re here!” Peter smiled and sat up to hug his friend. He wondered if Bucky knew what happened and how bad Steve was. 

“Hey, little bear. I’m so happy to see you.” Bucky cupped his cheek and ran his hand through his curls. 

Peter pulled away from Bucky a bit because it didn’t seem like he knew what had happened. “Bucky, he-he took me. From my real family. And-and he lied to me.” 

Bucky stood up and pulled Peter to his feet. Peter saw him continuing to glance back at the park so Peter went to turn around but Bucky grabbed his hand. “No, Peter. Daddy didn’t take you. You are his son so we have to go because the bad men are coming soon.” 

Peter shook his head and felt everything crumble all around him. “No.” Bucky had known. Bucky had known this whole time and lied to him along with Steve. “No! Get away from me!” 

“No, bear. I’ll keep you safe. I always keep you safe.” Bucky picked Peter up and went to walk away but Peter started hitting weakly at his chest. 

“No! No, you l-lied to me!” Peter smacked Bucky’s chest but he was huge so he knew it didn’t hurt the man. “Let me go!” 

Bucky went to start running with Peter but Asier ran at them full force and bit Bucky’s wrist which caused him to drop Peter onto the grass. 

The barking and screaming got Harley’s attention so he looked over and saw a man trying to pick Peter up and Asier standing in between the two and barking like crazy. He started running as fast as he could to get to Peter. 

“Peter! Run! Run, Peter!” Harley screamed but he was still too far from them. 

Peter felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He tried to stand up to get away from Bucky who knew the truth all along but his legs weren’t working. He eventually got himself to stand up but tripped again so he got to his feet and ran towards Harley but he didn’t make it very far because his arm was being grabbed and he was lifted into the air. 

“Ahhhh!” Peter screamed as loud as he could and tried to kick and wiggle his way out but it wasn’t working. 

While this was happening, Morgan started screaming at the top of her lungs because she was witnessing someone trying to take her brother away from her again. She climbed down the park steps and went to run to go help Peter who was scared and crying but her grandpa was already running towards them. 

“Stay here, Morgan!” He yelled at her. “Call 911!” 

Morgan ran over to the park bench and picked up her grandpa's phone that he dropped on the ground. She picked it up but could barely see because her eyes had so much tears falling out. “Hello? Help me! He’s trying to take Peter!” 

Tony, who was still on the other end of the phone and having a mini heart attack as he was forced to listen to all the screams he was hearing, spoke, “Morgan! It’s dad. What’s going on? Talk to me!” 

Morgan started screaming into the phone but Tony couldn’t understand anything. 

She watched as Asier started to attack the man again and then two other men were going over to try and take Peter so she screamed and dropped the phone to try and stop them so they wouldn’t take Peter away from her. 

“Noo! Let him go!” Morgan cried out and went to go help her brother. 

Asier was barking and growling at the man after he attacked him again so Peter was on the floor and trying to get away just in time for Harley to arrive and stand between the two. “Get the fuck away from him you sick bastard.” 

Bucky looked at his bleeding hand and at the two other men running towards him. He shook his head. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with Harley. I’m going to get Peter.” 

Harley felt all the life drain from his body. This man knew who he was. He knew who Peter was. 

The two bystanders ran up to them and went to aim a punch at Bucky’s head but Bucky blocked it, grabbed the guys arm and pinned him onto the ground then did the same with the other man before he was taking off towards the forest. 

Harley felt frozen. This man had found them. He knew where they lived. 

Mike arrived and immediately picked Peter up to carry him back to the park bench so they could call the police but he heard sirens in the distance and when he turned around, everyone from the park was surrounding them to see what was going on. 

“That man just tried to kidnap that boy.” One woman said as she held her baby tightly on her hip. “Sir, we called the police. They’re coming right now.” 

Mike nodded his head and tried to focus on Peter but there were too many people around them. 

“Is he okay?” Another person asked but Mike ignored them and walked over to the bench but Morgan was running up to him with tears streaming down her face and trying to reach up for Peter. 

“He’s crying. Peter. Peter.” She weakly begged for her brother but Peter didn’t lift his head up. 

In the car, Tony had the phone on speaker and had heard everything. Him and Pepper were trying their best not to freak out because they wouldn’t be any help to Peter then but they had no idea what was going on. 

Pepper had called the police from her phone to send them to the park but they didn’t even know what the problem was. They had no idea what they were going to be going into. 

Tony almost had the gas touching the floor the whole way there. He didn’t even shut the car off as they pulled up to the park. His heart was racing so fast that he was sure he was going to have a heart attack if he got to the park and Peter wasn’t there. 

He ran across the field and saw a group of people gathering around. Some mothers were even crying and that made him want to scream. Where was his kid? 

He looked around and spotted Harley walking across the opposite field with no emotion on his face and that was not a good sign. He then heard Morgan crying so he turned in that direction and laid his eyes on Peter in Pepper’s dad's arms and he almost choked on the breath of air that left his body. 

He ran over to them and immediately pulled Peter from the man and squeezed onto him tightly but Peter started freaking out and trying to get away from him. “No! Get off! Nooo!” 

“Shh, it’s me. It’s okay. It’s daddy, Peter.” Tony hushed him and pulled Peter back so Peter could see his face. Once Peter saw that it was him, he threw himself against his chest and started sobbing into his arms. 

Pepper pushed her way through the crowd that had gathered around them and went over to Tony who had Peter in his arms. “Oh my god.” She placed her head on Peter’s back and cried against him to try and calm down and then she noticed Morgan who was freaking out and violently crying next to her. 

Pepper went to console Morgan when the police showed up in their car on the pathway. Everyone moved aside to let them through but Pepper didn’t even know what happened. 

She had no idea what happened but whatever it was, it was not good. She bent down and picked her six year old up to try and get her to calm down. 

“We got a call for a child kidnapping.” One of the men said and looked around. 

Mike walked up to them and pointed across the field where Asier was still barking. “A man tried to pick him up and take him into the forest. I was just sitting here when I heard the dog barking.” 

Both the bystanders who got attacked by Bucky, walked over to the police and held their broken, bloody noses from when they got shoved onto the ground. “That man is fucking mental. He just tried to take that kid, yo.” 

Tony looked at their faces. Whoever wanted Peter had wanted him badly and he had an idea who it was. 

“Dude, he’s fucking crazy. We heard the dog barking and saw him attacking some man and then the kid was screaming so we went to go help but the man attacked us before running off into the forest.” The other bloody bystander explained to the police. 

“We need a K-9 unit. Attempting child kidnapping.” The police said into their radio and started running towards the forest where they were pointed at. 

Harley pushed his way through the crowd that was starting to leave but just like the day Peter was actually kidnapped, people from the streets stop their car and make their way over to see what is going on. 

Tony saw his oldest son and saw the look on his face. He had heard through the phone Harley screaming at Peter to run so he knew Harley was right there when it all happened. He let go of Peter with one arm to pull Harley against his side. 

“Are you okay?” He asked and for the first time since they got Peter back, Harley broke down in tears and shoved his face into Tony’s side. “Aw, Harls.” 

Tony comforted his first born the best he could with one arm and an audience watching them. He knew Harley held in his emotions, he hadn’t seen the boy cry in almost a year and that was saying something. 

Two more police cars showed up and pulled two dogs out of it then came over to the group. “Can one of you show us where the attack happened?” 

One of the bystanders raised up his hand. “I’ll show you. The dog attacked the man and bit his hand or some shit because there’s blood all over the grass and I saw his hand.” 

Tony watched the man lead the police over to where Asier was still barking and running around. He turned back to look at Mike since he didn’t think he was going to get an answer out of Harley but as he went to ask him, another police officer walked up to them while the other one was trying to get the crowd to give them some space. 

“Mr. Stark,” The police had addressed him since it was common knowledge who the Stark’s were. “can you tell us what happened? We need a statement.” 

“I wasn’t here. My wife and I… we just got here.” Tony hoisted Peter up higher and Harley was pulling away from him and wiping desperately at his face. 

Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder and pointed in the direction where the police went. “It-it was him. He-he-he came and t-tried to take me ‘way!” 

“Who did?” The police asked but Peter didn’t answer so Tony tried to calm him down to get an answer out of him. 

“He knew my name. He said he’s coming back for Peter.” Harley said quietly. Everyone looked at him. 

“Who, Harley? Who is it?” Pepper asked him but Peter was answering. 

“Bucky.” 

Tony knew it. He knew it was that bastard. 

“Okay. Bucky came. Can you tell us exactly what happened?” 

Tony was reaching for his phone in his pocket but he left it in the car. “I need to call Natasha. Call Natasha and tell her to come here right now.” 

Pepper was setting Morgan on her feet and grabbing her phone out of her pocket to make the call. Morgan walked up to the police officer and tugged on his leg. “Don’t let the bad man take my brother. Please, police man.” 

Tony pulled his attention away from Pepper and looked down at Morgan. The bad man. Peter had said the bad man was trying to take him away last night. He woke up screaming because of the bad man. 

“Peter, do you remember last night? You said the bad man was trying to take you.” Tony asked Peter who nodded his head. “Did he wake you up or did you wake up after?” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “He woke me up when he stepped on my lego house.” 

Tony felt all the blood drain from his face. He held onto Peter a little tighter. “He was in our house.” He came to the realization and walked over to Pepper, ignoring the police that were trying to talk to him. “Give me the phone. Natasha, Bucky was here and he was in our house last night. Come to the house.” 

Pepper stared at him. “What? He was in our home?” 

Tony hung up the phone with Natasha after hearing that she was on her way. “Last night, when Harley brought Peter to us after he woke up crying, he said the bad man was in his room but we told him it was just a bad dream. When I went to go check his room, I found that his curtains were open a bit and there was a broken lego house on the floor by his window and Peter said he was woken up by the lego house breaking. Bucky was in his bedroom.” 

Pepper covered her hand over her mouth and shook her head so Tony turned back to the cops but they wanted answers. 

“Officer’s,” Mike had said. “we came to the park, all four of us and the dog, we were here for about thirty minutes then as I was on the phone with Tony, Peter ran out into the field and I told him to come back but then that man was walking up to him. They had some sort of conversation before he was picking Peter up and trying to run.” 

Mike paused to point behind them at the dog but he was gone. “That’s when Asier, their dog, started barking and attacked the man so he dropped Peter who was screaming then Harley saw and started to run towards them but he was still far so Peter was picking up again and I think that’s when Asier bit the man.” 

Morgan tapped on the police officer's arm. “Then I seed Peter crying and-and I wanted to help so I tried to help but then he came and the bad man hurts him and the other boy.” 

“Thank you. How old are you?” 

Morgan grabbed onto Tony’s leg. “I’m six. Peter’s ten and I don’t want anyone to take him again.” 

“What’s going on? Is Peter okay?” Everyone turned their heads to look at Pepper’s mom who was rushing towards the group. 

“He’s okay, mom. He’s right here.” Pepper stepped aside to let her mom hug every one of her kids and try to catch her breath. “I was walking here and I saw all the police cars and someone had said the boy had gotten kidnapped. Oh god.” 

“Ma’am, we are trying to get statements from those involved while we search for the kidnapper.” One of the police had said to Alice who ignored him in favour of rubbing Peter’s back while he leaned his head against Tony’s chest and occasionally hiccuped. 

They continued the questioning but the only people who could answer were Harley, Mike and the bystander who helped out. Tony would be getting both of their names so he could thank them later and give them something to show his thanks. They got their noses broken for stepping in and trying to save his kid. 

After the questioning was done, the police had said that they would be in touch to let them know what is happening with Bucky and the attempted kidnapping. 

Tony wanted to have 24/7 house protection until the man was found and he wanted to have someone come and secure the house because there was no way Bucky could have gotten in and left without setting off any property alarms so he wanted that checked out. 

They started heading back to the car but it was definitely going to be a tight fit since it was only a five seater.

“Wait. Where’s Asier?” Morgan asked and tugged on Pepper’s hand. “Mommy! We can’t leave him.” 

They all stopped to look but the dog was nowhere in sight. “I saw him run off with the police K-9’s.” Harley had said and Morgan started crying again. 

“He’ll come back, Morg. Don’t worry. He’s a tough boy.” Tony reassured Morgan but it was true. They only got Asier because one day on a walk, they had found the puppy tied to a tree in the middle of nowhere. 

It was obvious that whoever had left the dog there had left it there to die and it looked like the puppy had been out there for days already so they untied it and took him home. He’s an extremely tough dog, if today was anything to go by and he was never late for feedings times and never ever let his water bowl go empty which was why they had bought an automatic filler so it never did no matter how much he drank. 

The seven of them walked back to the car that Pepper had turned off and locked after they got there. “Dad, do you wanna drive and mom sits in the passenger seat then we’ll all squeeze in the back.” 

It was a tight fit but it was perfect because they were leaving the park with everyone they loved. Tony had Peter on his lap with Pepper in the middle with Morgan on her lap and Harley next to her. 

It was a little over a five minute drive to their house but it was perfect timing because Natasha was pulling up at the same time. 

Tony got out of the car and went to put Peter on his feet but Peter desperately reached his arms up for him again so Tony lifted Peter up and set him on his hip. 

“Is Peter okay?” She rushed over to them and looked Peter over. “Did this just happen?” 

“Yes. While Pep and I were on our way home. We heard screaming over the phone because Mike called us,” Tony trailed off. That was so freaking scary, especially after what they just went through at the courthouse. It was one thing after the other. 

“The police took K-9’s out into the forest to see if they can catch up to him. Apparently Asier went with them because we don’t know where he is.” Pepper told her and helped Morgan get out of the car. 

Natasha nodded and turned to Tony. “Are you sure he was in the house last night?” 

“I don’t know for sure. I have two guys in there right now checking everything over and making sure no ones in there and then they’re going to instal more security systems around the house.” Tony explained to her but he was more curious to know how Bucky got into their house and into Peter’s bedroom. 

“Do you want to go check out the side of the house?” She asked him so Tony turned to Pepper. 

“Can you take him? I’m just going to the side of the house with Natasha.” He tried to hand Peter over to Pepper but Peter started whining for him and trying to hold on. “I’ll be right back, Pete. Stay here.” 

He set Peter on his feet so Peter immediately clung onto Pepper and watched him go back with Natasha who was an ex detective. Tony wondered if she had any history anywhere else because she could fight. Hell, she could fight him and win. 

“Got your gun on you?” He asked as they rounded the corner, just in case. 

She pulled it out and aimed. “As always.” 

He walked behind her and walked towards the backyard but nothing looked suspicious at all. When they got to Peter’s window, Tony immediately spotted something blue and shiny on the ground so he bent down to pick it up. “It’s a lego piece.” 

Natasha looked at it. “You said he was in Peter’s room last night? Is anything missing?” 

“I didn’t check. Last night, Peter woke up crying because the bad man was in his bedroom so Harley carried him downstairs to Pep and I who were sitting outside talking to you.” He explained to her. “I’ve never seen him so scared but he was adamant that someone was in his room but of course we didn’t believe him. He’s ten. Kids have a weird imagination so we told him it was a nightmare and when I went to go check his room, his curtains were open a bit and I found a broken lego house on the floor. Then, today, Peter said the sound of his lego house breaking is what woke him up.” 

“So he was in there last night then.” Natasha concluded and they both stood up. 

“Yeah. Peter said he was trying to get him to go with him so I think Peter started crying and when Harley went into his room to get him, Bucky left so he wouldn’t get caught.” Tony didn’t know what to do. The house wasn’t safe if they didn’t find Bucky tonight. 

“I want to know how he got in and out without setting off any alarms.” Natasha looked up at the side of the house and ran her hand over it. 

“They’re good. They know what they’re doing. They had kept Peter hidden in plain sight for seven years and didn’t ring any bells.” Tony hated to admit it because it was scary but it was the truth. 

“They both worked together. Bucky was probably the brains behind this whole operation meaning that he’s someone we have to look out for.” She concluded and put her gun away. “He found out where you live, Tony. He knows where to find Peter.” 

“What are you saying? That we move?” Tony was not going to move his family again. They were extremely happy here and he couldn’t put his young kids through anymore change. 

Natasha stayed silent for a few seconds. “I’m not saying you move. Just maybe, set up some extra safety precautions.” 

“I am. It’s getting set up after the two are done in the house.” Tony wanted them to be safe but not paranoid like he constantly was. 

She started walking back to the front of the house so Tony followed her. The two men who had checked the house had walked out so they went over to them to see if they found anything but Tony knew they didn’t. “Give it to us.” 

“We didn’t find anything suspicious but we are going to go around the perimeter of the house to set up sensors that will detect anything going near windows and doors when you turn it on.” 

“Alright. Thank you.” Tony didn’t know how they were supposed to live this way. They couldn’t live in constant fear like this. It was bound to take a toll on them eventually. 

Tony walked over to his family and picked Peter back up so he could hold him for his own calming sake and Peter’s so it was a win-win. 

They all headed inside but they had to talk to Peter about a few things so he carried him over to the family room with Natasha and Pepper following behind them. 

“Hey, Pete. We just need to ask you some questions, okay? It’ll be so quick.” Tony told him and shifted Peter on his lap so he could face everyone else. 

When Peter nodded, Natasha started. “We need to know if you know any other friends that Steve has. Is there anyone else he took you to?” 

Peter tried to think about it. Steve didn’t have many friends. He always said that he didn’t want to waste his time with ten friends when he had one best friend that he liked and trusted. He would go out with his work friends sometimes but that was it… “I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” 

“I-I can’t remember.” 

“How about you think about it. Take your time. Just try to think of all of Steve’s friends. Maybe people who came over to the house or you went over to their house.” Tony tried to get Peter to give them a name or be certain there was no one else. 

Tony wouldn’t be surprised if there was no one else because when dealing with something so serious such as child kidnapping, the more people that get involved, the more complicated it got. 

“Um… no ones allowed over and I’m not allowed over.” Peter sadly said. The only person who ever came into their house was Ned occasionally and Bucky. There was no one else. 

“Was it just Bucky then?” Nat asked. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and sighed. “Um… well, maybe our neighbour. She was nice but I only went in her house three times. But… she would say hi to me every time and ask me about school and stuff.” 

“What do you think?” Tony asked Natasha. He didn’t think it was anything too suspicious but better safe than sorry. 

“I’d rather check just to be sure.” She said then looked down at Peter. “Do you know her name?” 

“Sharon. Or Ms. Carter because she’s a school teacher. But not my teacher because she teaches in another school.” Peter explained. He hadn’t thought about her until now but he didn’t want to see her because she probably knew as well. “I’m tired. I want to sleep now.” 

Tony rubbed his back. He was glad that this was going to be an easy night then. “Alright. I’ll take him up for bath time and get him ready for bed. I think your mom took Morgan.” 

He stood up and set Peter on his hip then looked at Natasha. “Call me if you find anything on her or anyone else.” 

“I will. Have a good night.” 

Tony left after that and carried Peter upstairs. He walked past the hallway bathroom that was Morgan’s and Peter’s bathroom. When he looked inside, he saw Morgan in the bath with Alice helping her but she looked miserable and tired. 

“Daddy, bring Petey in.” Morgan asked sadly but Tony shook his head. 

“No, he’s gonna have a bath in my room and you’ll see him later.” Tony said and shut the door then carried Peter to his bedroom. 

Peter was quiet the whole time and barely said a word due to the stress and fear of the whole day. Tony didn’t blame him because he was feeling the exact same way and he was still worried about that fact that Bucky wasn’t found yet. 

Once bath time was over and Peter was dressed in his pyjamas, Tony and him went downstairs and found Morgan sitting on the couch with Pepper tucking her under her arm. 

The six year old popped her head up and ran over to Peter to give him a hug. “Petey. Come cuddle with me and mommy.” 

Peter let Morgan pull him over and Tony was about to join them but Harley was walking into the room and looking rather reluctant. “Uh, dad. Can I talk to you for a sec?” 

“Yeah.” Tony turned and let Harley lead him out of the room and down the hallway so they were out of ear shot from everyone else. “What’s up, bud?” 

Harley crossed his arms and looked uncomfortable. “What Uh, what happened today at the courthouse? Is everything okay or…?” 

“He’s gone. He got sixty five years and is probably going to end up in a mental institution.” It was a huge relief to say that and it looked like it was for Harley too. 

Harley breathed out a sigh of relief so Tony pulled him in for a hug. “Thank god. I was thinking about it all day.” 

“I know. He’s gone now but we-” Tony was cut off by the doorbell ringing so he looked on the security camera that was right by the door and saw that it was two police officers so he unlocked the door and opened it. 

Before anyone had the chance to speak, Asier was running past him and into the house, straight for the kitchen since it was way past his dinner and after where he was, he was most likely starving. 

“Mr. Stark, that dog you have there sure is a hero from what we heard and seen.” One of the police officers had said. 

Tony felt extremely proud. From what he’s heard, Asier was the one to protect Peter from Bucky and keep him away in time for Harley and those two other men to get there. “Thank you.” 

He looked down at their uniforms and saw that they were full of dirt and twigs which told him they had been running through the forest. “Did you find him?” 

“We found him an hour ago and brought Bucky Barnes into custody but he refuses to talk.” 

Tony ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Oh god. Thank you. Oh my god.” He had no idea what he would have done in Bucky wasn’t found. He would have had to take his family to the tower until he was found. 

“We will keep you updated on anything else through Natasha.” The officer told him and Tony shook their hands to thank them again. “You have a good night.” 

After the door was shut and locked, Tony felt like he needed to cry. There were so many emotions running through his mind throughout the day and now he was exhausted. 

He pulled Harley in for another hug so had heard the whole conversation then they went into the living room to go tell everyone else the news. 

Pepper was looking at him, knowing who was at the door because of the cameras on the tv stand. “They found him and brought him into custody.” He announced to her and sat down next to Peter so he was squeezed between the two. 

“Thank goodness. Oh my gosh.” Pepper pulled Peter against herself a little bit tighter and pressed a kiss to his head. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and pulled away a bit so he could sit up. “What is it?” 

“Bucky went with the police today so he’s not going to try and take you again.” Tony explained to him. He watched as Peter tried to process that information as best he could. 

He looked at Pepper and tried to decide if now should be the best time to tell him about Steve. He didn’t want to hold it off anymore and they couldn’t lie to Peter about it. “Hey, bud, remember where mommy and I went today?” 

Peter nodded his head. 

“And how we explained to you last night about how Steve will be punished for what he did?” 

Peter nodded his head. “That he’s going to go away for a little bit.” 

“Yeah. Exactly. He’s gone away for a little bit so you don’t have to worry about him trying to take you away.” Tony explained but he didn’t know how Peter would react. It was scary information to receive for everything that he’s been through. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and yawned, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “I’m tired but… I don’t want to sleep by myself.” 

Morgan sat up and rubbed at her eyes too. “Me neither. I want to sleep with Peter.” 

“How about we camp out in the living room tonight?” Pepper suggested. “I have to wake up early to drop grandma and grandpa off at the airport tomorrow so let’s all sleep out here.” 

“Yeah!” Morgan cheered, seeming to no longer be tired. “I’ll go get the blankets.” 

After Morgan ran off, Mike and Alice came down to say their goodnights and goodbyes now. “We’re gonna miss you all so much.” 

“Thank you so much for coming, mom and dad. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without you.” Pepper stood up to give them a hug. 

“Of course. Next time it’s your turn to come see us.” Alice said and sat down on the couch to give an extra long cuddle to Peter. “I love you so much. Call us anytime you want.” 

Peter let her pull him in for a hug but then reached out for Tony after because he wanted to be carried. 

Alice smiled. “Well, what can I say, he always has been a daddy’s boy. We just want one grandma's child.” 

Tony chuckled. “Uh, no more kids. This is all you get.” 

After everyone said their goodbyes, the two left to go back upstairs into the guest bedroom and Pepper helped Morgan lay all the blankets out with Harley but Tony didn’t bother helping them since he had precious cargo in his arms. 

Once the living room was all set up with the table moved over and blankets laid out on the floor which was a lot since Pepper had an obsession with buying blankets, pillows were laid out and more blankets on top of that, Tony and Pepper left to go get themselves ready for bed and returned. 

It was such a cozy night. Asier cuddled at the end of their feet with Tony on the end then Peter, Morgan, Harley and Pepper. All three of their children were squished in the middle perfectly. 

Tony turned the last light off which had the whole house going dark so Peter sat up and started whimpering. “It’s too scary!” 

“I’ll go turn the bathroom light on.” Harley announced and stood up to do that. 

When the light turned on, Tony could make out Peter’s face and saw that he was sucking on his thumb again so he gently reached up to pull it out of his mouth, only for it to return again. 

He decided to leave it for tonight because he had an extremely stressful day. 

Peter laid back down and tucked himself under Tony’s chin so Tony wrapped an arm around him to pull him closer. 

This was nice. His whole family was here with him and it was complete. 

They were camping out on the living room floor and that gave him an idea. “Hey, what do you guys think about us going camping for real tomorrow?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so excited for you guys to read this chapter so I really hoped you liked it:)


	22. Maybe we’ll be okay (maybe)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my braces off two years ago today. The best day ever!!!! 
> 
> Please read the end notes

The idea was a huge success. 

The family needed to get away from the city for a few days and spend some time in nature without any phones or school or work. 

It was well needed and way overdue. 

The family of four used to go camping almost once a month to try and bring them peace and try to connect with nature but as everything they tried, nothing helped and it was only a matter of time before the ache that Peter left behind was making itself known again. 

Now, Peter was back where he belongs so the family didn’t have to worry about that. This weekend was going to be them focusing on what is important in life and that is family. Their complete family. 

After everything they went through these past few days, Tony was on high alert, as always but he was confident that everything was going to be okay. He wouldn’t be taking his family out if he wasn’t positive that both of his child’s kidnappers were behind bars and were going to stay there. 

It was a crazy morning. Pepper had to be up at five to take her parents to the airport but of course Peter woke up so Tony had to wake up and put Peter back to sleep then they both ended up falling asleep together. 

It was Friday but the kids were taking an early weekend so they could all go camping which was almost four hours away. Tony was looking forward to the ride, he had no idea if Peter could handle long car rides. When Peter was a baby, as long as either Tony or Pepper sat in the backseat next to his car seat, he was fine. 

“Should we take the truck so we can fit all the camping gear in the back but have all the kids squished together or the van?” Tony asked Pepper while she was packing all the essentials that were required, especially with two young kids. 

Pepper continued to fold some towels while she thought about it. “Well with two car seats I don’t know how that’s going to be comfortable for Harley.” 

Tony thought so too. “Alright. So then it’s going to be a tight fit in the van then.” 

“We’ll make it work. Can you tell Peter to come in here so he can sit on the toilet before we leave? Morgan just went.” Pepper asked and grabbed some more toiletries to pack away. 

“Yeah. I’ll get him.” Tony went downstairs but the house was a madhouse. Peter was running down the hallway with a potty seat on his head and chasing Morgan who had a roll of toilet paper trailing behind her. “Peter. Go upstairs with mommy and try to use the toilet.” 

“I Peter, am the king of the house! Morgan is my maid.” Peter announced and went to run off but Tony was grabbing him. “Ahh!” 

“You have to try to use the toilet so go upstairs.” Tony carried him upstairs because he needed to grab some bins anyways. He passed by Harley’s room and saw him packing his bag while on FaceTime with his girlfriend. “Harls, I need you to help me load the car up so hurry.” 

“Yep. Be there in a sec.” 

Tony set Peter on his feet in the bathroom and pointed to the toilet. “Go use it.” He then looked at Pepper who looked close to being done. “Almost done?” 

“Umm, yes. Another five minutes maybe. We’re stopping for all the food on the way up there, right?” She asked because they didn’t have any camping foods in their house at the moment. It would be easier to get it at a grocery store. 

“Yeah. Alright, I’m gonna go pack up the tent and stuff with Harley.” Tony told her and left to go grab all the bags that they have packed. It was crazy how much more stuff they had with Peter. They had an extra everything but he loved it so much. 

One of his favourite things was walking past Peter’s bedroom and seeing a mess because it meant Peter was home and he loved seeing his car seat in the car. It was a huge reassurance for him. 

“Daddy, can I help?” Morgan ran out of the house dressed in only her underwear so Tony pointed towards the door. 

“Go inside, Morgan. Put some clothes on.” He opened the garage and walked in to see where the tent was buried. The tent was a decent size, despite what Pepper wanted, they didn’t get some big and beautiful luxurious tent. It was going to be a tight fit but that’s what made the best memories. 

“I see the tent there!” Morgan walked into the garage and pointed to the tent. 

“Thanks. Now go inside and get some clothes on then carry some stuff out with us.” Tony told her and walked into the messy garage to carry the tent out with Harley. He noticed that they only had four chairs so they were going to have to buy another one for Peter. 

They began loading everything into the car but because of the extra seat now, they had to put down two seats in the back to make room for everything plus three kids and a dog. Tony could not have been more grateful that Asier loved car rides. 

He was trying to debate how they were going to fit in the bins that Pepper was packing when Peter ran out of the house dressed in just his underwear as well. “Morgan! I found bubbles!” 

“Let me see.” Morgan jumped out of the driver's seat to see the bubbles that Peter had but Tony didn’t want them outside with no clothes on. 

“Go inside, guys.” He said but they both ignored him and was about to drag them in but Pepper walked out. 

“Peter and Morgan. Get inside the house right now. I have been calling you guys for ten minutes.” She grabbed both their wrists and led them back inside. “You have to pick what outfit you want to wear for the car ride.” 

“Comfy dumfy clothes.” Peter said and climbed up on the bed which caused Morgan to start laughing and copying him. 

Pepper packed a bag full of extra clothes for them just in case an accident happened because she definitely didn’t want to dig in the back for any of that. 

“Okay, Morgan first. Pick your outfit because I’m not doing it.” Pepper had a few outfits already laid out for Morgan. She knew Morgan could get dressed herself with just that bit of encouragement because that is how she was raised but the sad truth was that Peter was not raised that way and did in fact need help otherwise he would never get dressed but they were working on it. 

“Come pick out your outfit, Peter. You want something extra comfy for the ride because it’s really long.” Pepper sat on the carpet while Morgan got herself ready and Peter continued to jump on the bed. 

“I’m wearing this.” Peter told her then did a bum jump. 

“You can’t just wear that. Come get some clothes on.” She laid out Peter’s options but he still didn’t listen to her so she sighed. They wanted to be on the road by nine but it was already 10:30. 

“No! No!” The ten year old stood back up to continue his jumping again. Their six year old was more mature than their ten year old but they weren’t too worried about it because as long as Peter was happy and it was better than him hating them. 

Morgan stood up and looked in the mirror to make sure she looked decent. “I’m all done.” 

Peter stopped his jumping and fell back onto the bed with a giggle. “Me too.” 

Pepper sighed. She didn’t know how else to get Peter dressed since she thought that Morgan was going to be the role model for him but he still wasn’t making an effort to get dressed on his own. 

Tony walked into the bedroom to see what was taking so long even though he already had an idea and when he saw Peter on the bed and not ready, his prediction was confirmed. 

“Are you coming camping with us, Peter?” Tony asked him and sat on the edge of the bed. 

Peter was lifting his legs over his head to try and do a back roll. “Yeah! I’m coming.” 

“Well, it doesn’t look like you are.” Tony told him, trying to be extra careful with the words he was using. He watched Peter sit up and frown. 

“I’m coming with you guys.” He said and Tony could see the fear running through his head at the thought of being left at home alone while everyone else had fun without him. 

“Yeah, you are. So why aren’t you dressed yet, Pete?” He stood up to grab the outfit Pepper had picked out for him which was grey shorts and a white top. Peter just stared at him so Tony rounded the bed and laid out his outfit. “Put this on and then we’ll go.” 

Pepper gave a reassuring squeeze to Tony’s shoulder since she knew how difficult Peter could be. She then left with Morgan, leaving the father and son alone. 

“I’m so excited to go. Have you ever been camping before, Pete?” Tony asked him, hoping the answer was no. 

Peter shook his head and lied back down. “No. Never. I wanna see a bear. A big bear.” 

“We might but you have to hurry up and get dressed.” Tony moved the clothes closer to Peter but he groaned as if it was the end of the world. This was definitely one of their biggest struggles with Peter since it was obvious that Steve had babied Peter and got him dressed probably every single day which was a huge turn around now for the ten year old since now he had to do it himself. 

“I can’t.” Peter sighed and looked over at his clothes as if they had personally offended him. 

“I know you can. You’ve done it before so you can do it again.” Tony stood up and held his hands out for Peter, smiling when Peter immediately lifted his arms up to be held. 

He pulled Peter up and stood him on the carpet but Peter stomped his feet and fell face first onto the bed. “I need help.” 

“You don’t need any help. Show me how you can do it yourself.” Tony tried to encourage him but it was hard since he wanted so badly to just give in and help his kid but he knew he couldn’t. Peter had to learn to do it on his own. It was way overdue. 

Peter whimpered and stomped on the ground again. “I can’t! I want you to do it.” 

With a sigh, Tony picked up the shirt. “How about we do it together then?” 

That had Peter stop whining and standing up straight. “Yeah.” He rubbed at his eyes with a closed fist and waited for Tony to put the shirt over his head and help him direct his arms through. 

Next was the pants. Tony did most of the work but Peter was still helping out, it was obvious to Tony that he wasn’t getting dressed himself out of pure laziness. He didn’t know how it worked with Steve and maybe he never wanted to know. Whether that man had told Peter not to get dressed himself and that he was going to do all the work so Peter just laid there or Peter put up a fight and refused to get dressed himself so Steve had given in. 

Either way, it was now left up to Tony and Pepper to break the habit. 

Once they were all ready to go, Tony and Peter both went downstairs and outside to join the rest of their family. Asier was already patiently waiting in the van to leave while Pepper and Harley double checked that they had everything. 

Tony found Morgan pretending to drive in the driver's seat so he grabbed her hand. “Let’s go pee one last time.” 

“I wanna go in the driver’s seat.” Peter climbed in after Morgan got out but Tony grabbed his hand too. 

“You too, Peter. Then I’m getting into the driver's seat because I’m the driver.” Tony walked both kids inside the house and made Morgan go to the bathroom first while Peter waited with him. 

“And then I’ll drive after.” Peter told him with a grin. 

“Ask me again in six years.” Tony didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want Peter driving because he didn’t want his youngest son to grow up. 

Morgan walked out of the bathroom so Peter went in but hesitated. “Tell Morgan to wait for me because I waited for her.” 

Peter double checked that Morgan was going to stay before he quickly did his business and ran back outside with his sister while Tony trailed behind them. 

“Climb into your car seats so we can get going. C’mon. Into the car.” Pepper ushered her kids into the car and made sure the two of them got buckled up before she shut the door and got into the passenger seat. 

Tony got in the driver’s seat and turned around to look at his beautiful family. It was definitely a tight squeeze with everyone in the car plus all their camping stuff but that made it cozy. 

Asier had just before set up between Morgan and Peter but he was sitting up for now and letting Peter pet him. Tony wondered why Asier had taken a special liking to Peter from him sleeping on his bedroom floor every night to him protecting Peter at the park the other day, they definitely had a special bond. 

Pepper snapped a few pictures of her kids before they were on the move. 

It was going to be a long yet fun car ride. 

It was not fun. 

Not even an hour into the car ride, Peter was already becoming incredibly fussy and trying to take off his seatbelt every time Pepper looked away from him which resulted in Morgan copying him and doing the same. 

They weren’t even close to arriving at the campgrounds yet and they were already going crazy. Tony wanted to try and drive for another few miles before they pulled over to do a quick camping grocery shopping to grab the food. 

He knew that if they pulled over too soon then the two youngest would be acting up in a matter of a few minutes after. He sighed and looked over at Pepper. “Should we stop now to stretch our feet for a few minutes?” 

She was trying to find a quiet place to pull over on her phone as she spoke. “I think so. It’s different now so we have to.” 

Tony nodded. Peter and Morgan were currently trying to see who could scream the loudest and it was driving Tony mental, even Asier was telling them to shut up. “Enough. Both of you. We’re gonna pull off the road to stretch our legs for ten minutes so stop screaming.” 

“Can we scream when we stretch our legs?” Peter asked, mischievously. 

“If you want to.” Tony shook his head fondly. He loved Peter so freaking much it actually hurt. 

By the time they arrived at the location, both kids and Asier were practically vibrating with excitement. The place they pulled into was a small gas station with a giant field and a forest across from that and a dirt road. 

It was quite ghetto so Tony didn’t plan on staying any longer than ten minutes. 

When he opened up the back door to let Peter out, Asier pushed past him and started digging excitedly in the ground. He trusted Asier to not run off so they didn’t have to worry about putting a leash on him. 

“I need to pee.” Peter told Tony as he used his hands as support to jump out of the car. 

“Okay, um…” Tony looked around. They were in an open field with nowhere to really go and he wasn’t going to take Peter into the ghetto gas station. 

Harley climbed out of the car and shoved his phone in his pocket. “I’ll take him. We’ll just go to that tree right there.” 

“Stay where I can see you.” He warned them and watched them leave while he stretched his legs out but he was fine, he could drive the whole way without needing to stretch legs or go to the bathroom every minute. With kids, everything takes ten times as long. He wouldn’t change it for anything. 

Morgan was chasing Asier in the grass while Pepper did some yoga poses or something. 

“Daddy! Watch me!” The six year old demanded so Tony put on his sunglasses to look in her direction. She wasn’t doing anything interesting, just running around in circles but it had his attention because when Peter ran into him on full speed, it knocked the wind right out of him. “Ow. Hey, Pete. Go run with Morgan for a few minutes.” 

He pushed his ten year old off in that direction and enjoyed seeing the two of them interact. It was always so hard to get Harley and Morgan to play together since the age gap was so big between the two, it made it almost impossible. 

But with Peter, their age gap was a lot closer and they shared the same developmental mindset and interests. 

Tony loved that. He couldn’t wait to watch the two grow up together. 

After ten minutes was up, Tony opened up the back door to usher his kids and Asier into the van. “Time to go guys. Back into the van you get.” 

Peter sat himself down on the grass as he watched everyone else run towards the van, including Asier. Tony waved his hand over to his youngest son who was being difficult. “Let’s go, Peter. We have to get to the campgrounds so we have time to set up our tent before the bears come.” 

Pepper smacked his arm. “Don’t say that. Look, you just scared him.” 

“What… I’m just trying to get him into the car.” Tony now realized what he did wrong. As hard and as painful as it was, he had to remember that they did not raise Peter up to this point. 

He believed whatever he was told because Steve had gouged all the lies into his brain for seven years straight. 

“You’re right. I’ll go get him.” He walked towards the tree where Peter was sitting down in the grass with a pout on his face. 

“No bears.” Peter whimpered. Tony kneeled down in front of him. 

“I thought you wanted to see some bears.” Tony remembered Peter telling him what he wanted to see but now he was scared of them. 

“Baby bears but not adult bears.” Peter laid down on the grass and started ripping fists of grass up. “Not the big kinds that wanna eat you.” 

Tony rubbed at his knee. “No bears will come, okay? We’ll tell all the bears to go away so we can camp in peace, without the big bears.” 

Peter nodded his head but made no move to get up so Tony stood up and held his hand out for Peter. “Up up. Let’s go get you in your car seat so we can go.” 

It looked like Peter was going to put up a fight but decided at the last second to take Tony's hand and make a run for it towards the car.

He jumped in and got into his car seat so Tony went to go help him but Peter pushed his hands away. “No. I wanna do it by myself.” 

“Yeah. You do it by yourself. Good job, Pete. Look at you go.” Tony clapped his hands to encourage Peter which got everyone else cheering for him as well. He knew from when Peter was little and even with Harley and Morgan that they needed that encouragement to do something ‘grown up’ and even though Peter shouldn’t need the encouragement at his age, he did. 

And they were all there to give it to him and support him. 

An hour later, they arrived at the small shop that was in the middle of an extremely small town. It was a new route that Tony had taken just for the sole purpose alone of them heading into the shop. 

Tony opened up the back door and Asier jumped out but he wasn’t allowed coming so he sadly had to stay in the van. “Hop back in Asier. You can’t come in with us.” 

Harley climbed out and stretched his back out. “What’s the population in this place? Like five hundred.” 

“I didn’t see any signs so I have no idea.” He held his hand out for Peter to grab onto so he could climb out. “Jump. Good job. Hold someone’s hand, Peter.” 

Peter paused to decide who’s hand to hold then he was going over to Morgan to hold her hand but Pepper wasn’t letting them. “No. You two can’t hold hands in parking lots because you’ll run.” 

Peter didn’t like that. He held Morgan’s hand when they walked to the park once and crossed the road so he didn’t understand why he couldn’t now. “Then I don’t have anyone’s hand to hold.” 

“You can hold my hand, Peter.” Tony held his hand out for Peter and watched him decide if he wanted to hold it or not before making the right choice. “Have you decided what snacks you wanna get for the car ride and for when we’re camping?” 

Peter swung from his arm as he thought about it. “Um… goldfish. And… cookies.” 

“That sounds good.” The plan was to buy a bunch of junk food to last them for their whole camping trip since they weren’t going to be leaving the campsite once they got there. 

When they got to the road, they stopped to look both ways before walking into the store. Tony had let go of Peter’s hand, expecting him to run off but he stayed right beside him the whole time. 

It was definitely an experience to go grocery shopping with three kids but it was an experience that Tony wouldn’t trade for the world. 

It was his job to raise Peter now, along with Pepper, and he couldn’t wait to watch them become a family once again. 

By the time they had got everything that they needed, it was almost an hour later. The car was packed more than it ever had been before. Since all of their camping gear was in the trunk, they had to put all the groceries in the back of the car with Morgan, Peter and Harley. So it was a bit crowded. 

“Peter, put your seatbelt on and I’ll get the snack you want.” Tony told his youngest son since Peter was taken way too long to climb into the car. “Do you need help?” 

Peter was quick to say no to that. He loved having this new found sense of independence that he wasn’t allowed to have before. Steve had done everything for him, at the time, it was all Peter was used to so he just accepted it and sat back while he let Steve do everything for him but now, he knew what it was like to do things himself and he loved it. 

He saw Morgan and Harley getting dressed by themselves and putting on their own seatbelts and he wanted to be like them so he did it as well. 

“I can do it.” Peter climbed into the car and sat in his car seat then pulled his seatbelt over his chest to put it on, smiling proudly when it was on. “I did it.” 

“Good job, buddy. I’m so proud of you.” With a ruffle of his hair, Tony reached down to grab the goldfish out of the bag. He poured it into one of Peter’s cup holders in his car seat then reached for a juice box but hesitated. “You can have one juice box and just let us know if you need to use the bathroom.” 

Taking his juice box from him, Peter nodded. He looked over at Morgan now and tried to reach over to her so he could grab one of her cookies. “Can I have one too?” 

“Yeah. It’s a chocolate chip cookie.” Morgan handed Peter one of the cookies then went back to eating hers. It was good. Pepper watched them from the rearview mirror and smiled to herself. She loved how kind Morgan’s heart was and to watch her two youngest share. 

This was going to be a nice family trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that, I know a lot of you were scared of the Starks going camping but they’re ok!! 
> 
> Also I want to ask you guys something important. Ok so..... I’m debating whether or not I want to have a sequel for this fic. Peter will be 14/15, Harley will be 20/21 and Morgan 10. It would be about something that I don’t wanna spoil but it’s kinda hard for you guys to decide without spoiling which is the hard part. The other option is for it to happen in this fic??? 
> 
> Links for some stuff.. 
> 
> The tent: 
> 
> https://tentsntrees.com/wp-content/plugins/aawp/public/image.php?url=aHR0cHM6Ly9tLm1lZGlhLWFtYXpvbi5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL0kvNDE1bkVsYmVYbkwuanBn


	23. As long as we’re together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe Christmas is in two days like what!!?!? I don’t know about you guys but I just didn’t get the Christmas vibe this year. I also didn’t get it last year so I’m hoping next year is better 
> 
> Anyways I hope you guys enjoy this chapter:))

When they arrived at the campground, the sun was already starting to set but the sun's warmth was still shining down on them, making the whole environment so cozy and filled with so much happiness. 

Tony pulled the van up to an empty spot in the grass and shut it off. When he turned around to look back at his kids, he saw that both Morgan and Peter were passed out while Harley looked to be watching a YouTube video on his phone, completely oblivious to the fact that they arrived. 

“Harls.” Tony called out but Harley didn’t even look up at him. He smiled over at Pepper, shaking his head at her before taking off his seatbelt and getting out of the car. He stretched his legs out first but he couldn’t wait any longer because he wanted to see Peter’s excitement. 

Opening the back door, Tony ran his hand through Peter’s curls while moving aside to let Asier jump out and start running around. “Wake up, buddy. We’re here.” 

Peter arched his back in his car seat and reached up to rub at his eyes. Tony loved his kid so much, he would never get tired of waking him up and seeing the little sleepy smile on his face. “Look where we are, bud. Open your eyes.” 

Ever so slowly, Peter opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings before a smile was breaking across his face. “Are we here? Is this the camping place?” 

“Yeah, jump out so we can go exploring.” 

Peter went to take off his seatbelt. “I can do it all by myself. See?” As simple as taking off a seatbelt was, Tony knew it was important that Peter was willingly doing it by himself. 

“Nice job, Pete.” Harley appeared beside him and ruffled his little brother's hair while Pepper got a sleeping Morgan out of the car. 

“Did you take yours off by yourself too?” Peter asked him, sliding out of his car seat and reaching out for Tony’s hand so he could jump out of the van. 

“Yep.” Harley followed them out of the car and looked around. “I need to go pee so I’m gonna go behind that tree there.” 

Tony nodded but felt Peter tug on his hand. “I need to go pee too. I wanna come.” 

“Can you take your brother, Harls? I’m gonna start taking everything out of the trunk so we can get the tent set up before it gets dark.” Tony let go of Peter’s hand to let the two boys go do their thing but then Morgan was running out from behind the car. 

“Daddy!” Morgan ran up to him but stopped when she saw Peter. “Petey! I wanna go swim in the lake with you.” 

Peter let go of Harley’s hand to walk closer to Morgan, curiosity getting the better of him. “Where’s the lake?” 

Morgan shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s go on an adventure to find it.” She reached out to tug onto Peter’s hand but Tony was stopping them since he really didn’t want any accidents right now. 

“Go pee first, Pete. Then you can go on an adventure.” Tony gently pushed him off in the other direction although it didn’t matter since there were trees in every direction they turned. 

“I need to go pee too. I wanna come.” Morgan started running away with Peter immediately following behind her. 

Harley groaned. “I’ll go get them.” 

Tony looked around. They were the only ones there and hopefully it stayed that way. The camping place they decided to go to was so they could get away from the busy city life for a bit and hopefully become closer from sleeping under the stars together. 

He joined Pepper over by the car trunk but he couldn’t take his eyes off of all his babies. He could see Peter and Morgan running further and further away from Harley as he tried to catch up to them and the giggles that were echoing through the forest was the most beautiful sound. 

“Our first family trip.” Pepper said, pulling Tony closer to her. He pried his eyes away from his kids to look at his wife. Without her, he wouldn’t have anything, he wouldn’t have his beautiful children that were his entire life. 

“I love you so much.” Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her lips but it didn’t last long since the giggles were getting louder until there were tiny people at their feet. “Hey. Did you guys water down some trees?” 

Peter pointed towards the forest. “We saw a bunny. He was so cute and fluffy but then Harley scared it off.” 

Harley walked over to his family and shrugged. “What? If there’s a rabbit around, there’s another animal around to eat it. Resulting in us getting eaten too.” 

“Harley. Don’t.” Pepper warned her oldest, knowing how Peter and Morgan got. “Okay. Who wants to help me set up the campsite?” 

“No. I need to pee.” Peter held his legs together and squeezed himself desperately which had Morgan copying him. 

“You guys didn’t go? What were you doing all this time?” Tony asked, already grabbing Peter’s and Morgan’s hands to lead them over to a tree even though it didn’t necessarily matter. 

“Chasing rabbits.” Harley said, following them but going to a different tree. “I didn’t even go yet.” 

After Tony took Peter and Morgan to do their business, he brought them back over to the campsite to help Pepper and Harley put up the tent. 

The tent was fairly big. It was a lot bigger than Tony thought it was. Tony didn’t want to get that big of a tent since he wanted them all to be together close but the thing was that they were a family of five now and they would definitely need the extra space. They needed a place for sleeping but also a place for changing as well. So he was glad they went for the bigger tent size although it was going to be one hell of a time putting it up. 

Peter and Morgan helped out for the first ten minutes but then got distracted and started collecting different types of interesting rocks from the ground, leaving Tony and Harley to put the tent up while Pepper went with their two youngests. 

It took almost a whole hour but the tent was finally up and ready to blow the mattresses up in. While Tony and Harley were fighting with that, struggling to fit the mattresses in properly, Pepper set up the chairs with Peter and Morgan digging a hole in the ground. 

“Pete, can you and Morgan go get Asier’s leash and tie him up? We’re gonna change into our bathing suits so we can go swimming in the lake before the sun fully sets.” Pepper could see their dog running through the forest but she didn’t want him going too far, not when they were getting ready to leave. 

Peter shook his head at her. He didn’t want to go swimming right now because he was having fun digging his hole with Morgan. 

“Peter. Can you go get Asier?” Pepper asked him again, standing up to walk over to the boy to see if he would say no to her again. 

“No. I’m playing.” Peter said, not even looking up at her. Morgan stopped digging to look at Peter. 

“Mommy said so then we can go swimming, Peter.” She said and started to cover the hole up with dirt but that had Peter screaming. 

Tony and Harley both raced over to see what the problem was but stopped when they saw that everything was okay and Peter was just freaking out. 

Peter kicked Morgan’s hands away from his hole that he worked so hard on and then picked up a hand full of dirt and threw it at her face, causing Morgan to burst into tears and try to wipe the dirt out of her eyes and mouth. 

Pepper froze. She looked over at Tony to see if he saw what just happened before any of them made a move. 

Tony tried to think of what to do. If it was reversed and Morgan threw dirt in Peter’s face, he wouldn’t hesitate to sit her down for a timeout and it was hard but they had to do the same thing for Peter. 

He walked over to the two of them and kneeled down, grabbing onto Peter’s arms. “Peter. You do not throw dirt at your sisters face. That was not nice.” 

Peter tried to push him off. “She ruined it! It’s all gone now.” 

Pepper used her shirt to try and clean the dirt out of Morgan’s eyes while Peter tried to get Tony to let go of him. “Peter, that wasn’t very nice what you did. You use your words instead.” 

Peter threw his head back and screamed so Tony picked him up and carried him towards one of the trees, sitting him down on the ground and kneeling in front of him. “Peter. You are going to sit here for five minutes while you calm down and think about what you did. You do not throw dirt in anyone’s face.” 

Peter shook his head. “It’s all gone now and-and I worked so hard!” 

“You can build the hole again. Right now, you will sit here for five minutes.” Tony stood up to leave but Peter was crawling towards him. 

“Are you gonna stay here with me?” He asked, almost terrified of the answer. 

Tony hesitated but shook his head. “No… you’re in timeout.” 

Peter reacted as if Tony had just told him they were going to be getting in the car and driving away, leaving him there all by himself. He bursted into loud tears and threw his body onto the ground, breaking Tony’s heart in the process. 

He walked over to the van to hide behind it so Peter didn’t see him break down. He was about to lose it. He didn’t know why he found it so hard to punish Peter, well, he had an idea on how he found it so hard but it was killing him to do. 

Pepper walked over to him with Morgan on her hip, crying silently against her shoulder. “He has to learn, Tony. I know it’s hard but we can’t let him get away with it.” 

Tony rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. “I know. I know… it’s just, it’s really hard. Maybe I should go take him out now.” 

“No. If it were Morgan, we would keep her in timeout until the five minutes are up. It’s the same thing for Peter.” Pepper placed Morgan on her feet and reached out to take Tony’s hand in hers. “He’s not used to having siblings, Tony. We all know that. So he’s used to always getting his way. We don’t even know if he was ever put in timeout before. This is all so new to him.” 

Tony pulled out his phone to check the time left. One minute left. He could still hear Peter crying and it broke him. 

“We’re not doing this to hurt him. You know that.” Pepper explained to him to help Tony get over it, as hard as it was. 

Tony looked at his phone again and saw that the five minutes were up so he quickly walked over to Peter who was still crying miserably under the tree and kneeled down. “Peter. Do you know why I sat you in timeout?” 

Peter pushed himself off the ground and looked up at Tony. “Because you hate me!” 

Tony felt like he got slapped across the face. “No. No, don’t say that. That’s not true at all, Peter. I love you so so much. I put you in timeout because you were bad and you threw dirt in your sisters face.” 

Peter choked on his sobs and tried to wipe at his tears so Tony reached over to wipe them away. “I-I… she ruined my hole! I wanted to dig it.” 

Tony didn’t think it was a big deal but it was obviously a big deal to Peter. “Okay. Let’s go say sorry to her for throwing dirt in her face and then we’ll go down to the lake and build a new hole there.” 

“When?” Peter asked, starting to calm down a little bit more. 

“Right now. Let’s go talk to Morgan first then I’ll go help you change.” Tony stood up and held his hand out for Peter to take. Tony still felt a bit off, he hated even the thought of Peter thinking that he hated him but it was obvious to him that Peter got away with far too much with Steve. 

Once Morgan saw him, she ran towards Peter and threw her arms around the boy. “I’m sorry, Petey. Please don’t hate me. I don’t want you to go away again. I just didn’t mean to ruin your hole. I’m sorry.” 

Peter patted Morgan’s back awkwardly before pushing her away to hide behind Tony. “It’s okay. Don’t do it again.” 

“Peter,” Tony warned him. “don’t you have something to say to Morgan?” He felt Peter shake his head against his back so he looked over at Pepper and sighed before kneeled down to be at Peter’s height. “Are you going to tell her that you’re sorry for throwing dirt in her face.” 

Peter tried to look anywhere but Tony’s eyes. “Mm-mm.” 

“Peter. Can you say sorry to Morgan.” Pepper asked him. 

Peter shoved his face into Tony’s back and muffled a ‘sorry’ but it was the best they were going to get and Tony didn’t want to focus on this anymore since they came here to have fun… although what they were doing would always be apart of their parenting, whether they liked it or not. 

“Alright. Let’s go get you changed, Pete. You can pick what bathing suit you want to wear since mommy packed you two.” Tony started walking towards the tent to go get Peter changed but when he walked inside, Harley was lying on one of the blow up beds with his earphones in. “Get changed into your bathing suit because we’re all going out to the lake.” 

Harley scuffed. “Why would I change with you and Peter in here.” 

Tony paused from unzipping Peter’s suitcase. “Watch the attitude. I meant after we leave.” 

Peter stripped from his clothes and jumped onto the blow up mattress Tony was on and started giggling. “This bed feels like a water bed.” 

Tony ignored Peter for now because he was too busy staring at Harley. “Why are you even on your phone? We’re spending time as a family together. Get off it.” 

Harley took his earphones out but refused to get off his phone. “No.” 

Tony was so glad Peter and Morgan weren’t at this stage yet, he wasn’t ready for it with them although it would be different. Harley thought he was old and mature while he was still a child in Tony’s eyes. 

He knew he couldn’t baby Harley like he sometimes does to Peter and Morgan, not that he would ever baby his sixteen year old son but it was extremely frustrating that Harley tried to act older than he actually was. 

“Who are you texting? Are you texting your girlfriend?” Tony asked, wanting to give Harley the privacy to do that but also wanting to rip the phone from his hands and tell him to join in with the family for one second. 

“Yeah. Actually I am. Or am I not allowed to text her?” He asked, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. Tony looked up at Harley, knowing the boy was struggling with a lot right now. 

“I didn’t say you weren’t allowed to text her but there are times for that and this trip is not the time. Give me your phone.” Tony stood up and held his hand out for the phone but Harley took a step back. He raised his eyes at his oldest son and watched as he unzipped the tent door to walk out. 

Tony looked back at Peter who looked confused. He needed to deal with Harley first so Peter could wait a bit. So Tony left the tent to go follow Harley but knew Peter would follow him out so he looked over at Pepper. “Can you help Peter while I go deal with Harley?” 

Pepper made her way into the tent but her eyes were glued on Tony as he followed Harley towards the van. 

“Harley, stop.” Tony stopped his oldest son from closing the drivers door and leaned against the side. “Were you planning on driving away? Because I have the keys.” 

“No.” Harley groaned. “Whatever. Just take my phone. I don’t even care anymore.” 

Tony grabbed Harley’s phone from him but didn’t leave. “Wanna talk? What’s wrong?” He had no idea what was going on in Harley’s mind right now but he wanted his son to open up to him and let him in. 

“No. I don’t want to talk. It’s not like you’d even care to listen anyways.” The sixteen years old snapped at him. 

“What makes you say that? When have I ever pushed your feelings aside?” Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Harley pushed past him to get out of the car and walk towards the forest. Tony just watched him. He knew he wouldn’t go too far and that Harley needed some time to himself to get his thoughts together so with a sigh, Tony walked back towards the tent again. 

“... the biggest one ever. That’s what Morgan said.” Peter told Pepper as she tied up his swim trunks. 

Tony put on a smile for his kids right now. “What did Morgan say?” He asked, sitting on the mattress across from Pepper. She looked up at him, sharing a look that spoke a thousand words but he shook his head, silently telling her that he would tell her later. 

Peter turned to him. “The fish in the ocean.” 

“We’re not swimming in the ocean, Pete. We’re swimming in a lake.” Tony couldn’t help but pull Peter forward and hold him in his lap, never wanting him to grow up. 

“Oh! The lake. Let’s go now.” Peter jumped off his lap and reached out to Morgan to pull her along but Pepper stopped him. 

“Wait. I have to tie her bathing suit now, Peter.” Pepper knew Peter was excited and impatient to go so she quickly finished up with Morgan’s bathing suit and went to go stand up to lead the two towards the lake with Asier. 

“Do you have them? I’m gonna go talk with Harley.” Tony stood up as well, following his family out. 

“I’ve got them. Is he okay?” She asked, knowing Harley wasn’t in the best mood and that something was wrong. 

“I don’t know. I took his phone and I probably shouldn’t have but I’m gonna go talk to him.” Tony pressed a kiss to her cheek then started walking towards the trees where Harley walked off to. 

He found his son sitting on a log, looking out to the lake so he put his hands in his pocket and cleared his throat. “Can I sit?” 

Harley didn’t look at him. “Sure.” 

Tony took a seat next to his son and placed his phone between the two. “I shouldn’t have taken your phone. It was wrong of me and I’m sorry but we took this camping trip to get away and spend time as a family. You do understand that, right?” 

Harley picked up his phone and put it in his pocket as if he was scared that Tony was going to take it from him again. “I know that but you have to understand that I’m not like Peter and Morgan. I’m sixteen years old, dad.” 

Tony always felt like he was having this conversation with Harley. “I know after everything you’ve been through in your life, losing Peter and having to witness what mom and I went through, you matured a lot faster than many other kids your age but you’re sixteen, Harley. You’re not thirty. I don’t want you to be in such a rush to grow up.” 

Harley picked up a stick to occupy his hands. “I’m not in any rush to grow up. I just… I can’t relate to Peter and Morgan. You know, they get along and play together. They need help getting dressed and baths and going to bed and I obviously don’t so I just feel like I’m on a different… like maturity level than them.” 

That was true. Peter was ten years old but had the same maturity level as Morgan. “You’re right. There’s a huge age gap between you and Peter and especially between you and Morgan. I’m not asking you to dig holes or play with teddy bears and legos or watch Frozen with them but I don’t want you hiding away in the tent for this trip. I want you spending time with us as a family.” 

“Dad, I’m obviously not going to hide away in the tent for the whole trip. I went in there because Peter’s always throwing a tantrum. He does more than Morgan and I hate it because I hate what happened to him and I feel so bad… I don’t want to watch that so I just went to listen to my music until he stopped.” 

Tony found it hard to look at their life through Harley’s eyes. Harley was nine when Peter was kidnapped and taken away from their lives. He was old enough to understand what was going on and although Tony and Pepper tried their best to shield him away from everything, Harley was a smart boy and it didn’t always work. 

“I know it’s hard for you. I’m so sorry that you had to grow up without your brother but we have him back now and we’re working on it. Steve… he lost. He isn’t getting Peter back because he belongs with us, where he was always supposed to be.” 

“It’s just… it’s scary. You know, with everything that happened at the park. With Bucky.” Harley admitted. He felt his dad tense next to him which was why he took so long to bring it up. “I just feel like somethings gonna happen again.” 

Tony always felt that way. It was his job as the parent to feel that way. Not Harley. “Nothing’s gonna happen, Harley. Both Rogers and Barnes are locked up. Peter’s safe with us.” 

Harley still felt off. “How do you know? I mean, how will we ever know? They-they both kept Peter hidden in plain sight for seven years. Who knows, we could have been in the same grocery store as them or passed by him in the streets or in our cars. We probably did at some point.” 

That thought crossed Tony’s mind a million times a day. Even while Peter was still missing. “What happened, happened and we have to work together as a family to heal. I know we’ll never be a normal family. Not that being normal is any fun anyways.” 

Harley looked down. “What are you even talking about?” 

Tony sighed. “Harley, I’m saying that we can’t change the pass. You know how badly I want to go back to that day at the park seven years ago and just not go. But I can’t. I’m saying we can’t change the past but the future is in our hands so let’s move ahead. Together, as a family because we got Peter back. Rogers and Barnes are locked up, as far away from us as possible.” 

Harley still wasn’t so sure about that. “Then how come he knew my name? Bucky. He said my name at the park the other day. When he tried to take Peter.” 

This was news to Tony. “Barnes knew your name?” 

“Yeah. I know Peter didn’t tell him.” 

Tony looked away from Harley and towards the rest of his family by the lake. Part of him wanted to pack up everything and drive back home but they couldn’t live life in fear. 

He knew that no matter what, him and Pepper would be extremely overprotective over their kids, especially Peter but they had to live their life. 

“It’s definitely something that we have to be careful about, I’ll call Natasha and talk to her when we get home but it’ll be okay, Harls. Enjoy this time we have together.” 

Harley looked towards the lake where the rest of his family was. “I just- I love Peter. I love him so much but… sometimes I think that he’s gonna be screwed up in the head when he’s my age.” 

Tony hated hearing Harley say that. “He won’t be. That’s what your mom and I are working on. For him to accept the fact that he was kidnapped and lied to his whole life.” 

Harley turned to look at him for the first time since he sat down. “Are you sure? I mean look how I turned out… you found me almost drinking myself into a coma last year… and I wasn’t even the one who was kidnapped and raised with a bunch of lies.” 

Tony thought about that. It was on his mind almost constantly but that’s why it was extremely important for Peter to talk to someone and get help so he didn’t go down a bad path. “You aren’t a screw up, Harley. Stop thinking that. What happened last year was my fault… you were copying me and I’ll never forgive myself for setting those bad habits in your mind. Peter will be okay though. It’s important for him to have a good support system and he does. He has us.” 

Harley nodded. He leaned over to his dad for a half hug. “I know. Thanks. For talking. I know it’s hard for you and mom too… with Peter and everything. I know he isn’t making any of this easy on you guys.” 

Tony chuckled. That much was true but they wouldn’t change any of it for the world. “It’s what parents do. Wanna head down to the lake now?” 

Harley stood up, turning to wait for Tony to follow him. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for commenting! I appreciate Allll your comments sooo sooo much! My favourite thing to do is read them so I just want to say, I’m sorry if I don’t respond to them or take soooo long to respond, I’m horrible at replying most of the time but I love reading them so thank you all so much!!


	24. Spaces between us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last fic I post for 2020! Wow that’s so crazy to think of. This year has gone by in two seconds but at the same time it felt like 10 years in one. 
> 
> Cheers to 2021 being better for all of us 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter :)

Peter sat in the mud and tried to bury his legs while Morgan swam in the lake, promising Pepper to not go out too far since they didn’t have any life jackets for them. 

Tony walked towards the lake with Harley behind him. Tony and Harley didn’t plan on going swimming since it was already starting to get dark and had to get out of the lake in the next fifteen minutes or so. 

Peter heard them walking down the dirt hill so he turned to them and smiled. “Hi. Come see what I’m making. It’s a mud pie.” 

Harley took off his shoes and walked over to Peter bending down to see. “That looks disgusting. Is it fun?” 

Peter kicked his legs, spreading the mud everywhere. “Yeah! It feels funny and squishy between my toes.” 

Tony took a seat next to Pepper on a giant rock and put his arm around her, pulling her closer to himself. “How did it go with Harley?” She asked him. 

“Good. I think he feels the need to protect Peter and so he’s having a hard time letting us do that and actually live his life.” Tony knew it was hard for Harley. He’s always felt partially responsible for his disappearance. 

Just a few months ago, Harley was hanging out with friends every single weekend, coming home late and even going out after school on weekdays and not coming home until dinner time but ever since Peter came home, Harley hadn’t been out once with his friends. 

Tony knew his oldest kid wanted to stay home to spend some time with Peter and their family but it was also important for him to still live his life while he was young. 

“When we get back, maybe you can let him drive to his friends house. Then when you pick him up, he can drive back. That way he’ll still get some driving time in.” Pepper suggested but before Tony had the chance to respond, Peter was walking over to them and holding up his mud covered hands. 

“Look mommy.” Peter said, holding his hands out to show Pepper. 

Both parents were taken back. Pepper moved away from Tony to reach out to Peter, not wanting to make a big deal of him calling her mommy for the first time but also struggling to keep herself calm. “Oh baby. I can see that. Come here.” 

Pepper didn’t care about the fact that Peter was dripping in mud. The mess didn’t annoy her and never would again. “Let me hold you.” 

Peter lifted his arms up, letting Pepper pick him up and sit Peter on her lap, getting her own bathing suit covered in mud but she didn’t care. 

“See? I made a mud pie for you.” Peter pointed over to the squished up pile of mud that he was just playing in. 

“I love it. Thank you so much.” Pepper pressed a kiss to Peter’s face just as he lifted his hand up, causing mud to smear across both of their faces and then they burst out laughing. 

It felt so good to be laughing with Peter again and to hear his cute laugh that changed so much but also was still the exact same as they remembered it all those years ago. 

Peter slid out of her lap and grabbed onto her hand. “Come with me.” 

She let Peter lead her towards the water but instead of getting in, he clung onto her tightly. “I wanna go in but I’m scared.” 

“I’ll go in with you. How about we go over to Morgan together?” Pepper suggested but Peter was clinging onto her even tighter. 

“No. Not Morgan. I just wanna stay with you.” Peter didn’t want to have to share his mom with anyone since they got to have her for their whole lives so it was his turn now. 

“That’s okay. We’ll walk in together and Morgan can stay over there.” Pepper was so happy that Peter wanted her that she was okay with him not wanting his sister to join them. 

The three of them swam in the lake for the next ten minutes but Tony was the one who had to ruin the fun since it was almost pitch black out and he wanted to get a fire started before it was actually dark out. 

“We have all day to swim tomorrow so it’s time to roast some marshmallows.” Tony told his kids while holding three towels in his arms. 

Morgan was the first one to run over to him, excited to roast some marshmallows. “Daddy, can I sit next to you? I want your help.” 

“Yeah, I’ll help you, bug. Let’s take your bathing suit off so you can get wrapped up cozy in your towel.” Tony helped Morgan get her bathing suit off while Peter refused to get out of the water. “Peter, it’s getting dark out.” 

Peter ignored him but then he saw Morgan being wrapped in a warm towel and lifted into Tony’s arms and he wanted that too. “Me too. I want up.” Peter whined, lifting his arms up to Tony. 

Tony didn’t know how much longer he was going to carry both of his babies for so he wasn’t going to miss out on any opportunities. “Let mommy help you with your bathing suit and then I’ll carry you.” 

Peter immediately turned to Pepper so she could help him with that. “Have you ever roasted marshmallows before, Peter?” Harley asked, putting his hands in his pocket and standing next to his dad. 

Peter turned to him. “Is it the marshmallows that we bought today at the store?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Sometimes I put the baby ones in my hot chocolate. Only sometimes though.” Peter said, completely avoiding the question. 

Harley looked at Tony who just shrugged. “But have you ever roasted marshmallows, Peter?” He asked again. 

“Ummm…” Peter thought about it. “Maybe not.” 

Pepper wrapped the towel around his shoulders so Tony could pick him up and place Peter on his other hip. He was glad that Peter was extremely light so he didn’t have to struggle to carry his kids. It came naturally to him. 

Peter placed his head on Tony’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his neck but Morgan was trying to reach out to hold Peter’s hand. “Let’s hold hands, Petey.” 

Peter pulled his hand away from Morgan with a whine. “No. I don’t want to.” 

Morgan looked at her dad to see if he would do something but Tony wasn’t going to force Peter to hold her hand. No was no and Morgan had to accept that. “Peter doesn’t want to hold your hand right now, Morg. Perhaps another time.” 

“Can you hold my hand later, Petey?” She asked. 

Peter thought about it but shook his head. “No.” 

Tony tried not to laugh. Peter’s honesty was something else. 

They arrived at the campsite but it was already dark out, making it hard for Tony to see where he was walking as he tried to go into the tent to get his kids dressed in warm pyjamas. 

“Dad, want me to start the fire? I think I remember how still.” Harley asked, grabbing his phone to shine a light so he could see what he was doing. 

“Yeah, give it a try and I’ll be out after I get these two dressed.” Tony walked towards the tent but stopped so Pepper could get it open for him to walk inside. She came in after them and zipped it back up. 

“Come, Morg. I’ll help you get your pyjamas on.” Pepper dug in her suitcase for cozy pyjamas but Peter kicked his legs out, wanting to be put down. 

“No. You help me. Not Morgan.” Peter whined, making Tony put him down so he could go over to Pepper and pull her away from Morgan’s suitcase. 

Pepper turned to look at Tony. “Alright. I’ll help you then Peter but you can get dressed yourself so how about I get your pyjamas and you put them on by yourself?” 

Peter thought about it. “I need help.” 

“Let’s do it together then.” Pepper sat down on the blow up mattress, almost falling over. She grabbed a set of pyjamas out and held them out for Peter. 

“Mommy, can I sleep with Petey tonight?” Morgan asked while Tony tried to dry her hair the best he could. 

There were three mattresses. One for Pepper and Tony, one for Harley and one for Peter and Morgan but Pepper had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the order they all slept in. 

“If Peter wants to.” Pepper told her daughter, holding out Peter’s shirt for him but he was pushing it away. 

“I don’t want to.” Peter didn’t want to sleep with Morgan. He wanted to sleep with his mom and his mom only. 

Morgan stomped her foot. “Why doesn’t Peter like me anymore?” 

Tony could tell Peter was in a testing mood tonight. He didn’t know why Peter was being so rude to Morgan but he was making choices and as rude as they were, Tony wasn’t going to tell him to say yes when he clearly didn’t want to. 

“He does, Morg. Peter just wants to be with mommy for a little bit.” Tony grabbed her pyjama pants and held them out for her. 

Peter turned to look at Morgan but he didn’t like how Tony was helping her. He wanted all the attention on him and Morgan was stealing that away from him. “No. Go away because I just want them.” 

“Peter, daddy’s helping Morgan get ready and I’m helping you. How about you sit between us when we roast our marshmallows?” Pepper suggested, seeing the tears in Peter’s eyes but also the exhaustion so she knew he wouldn’t be awake for much longer. 

Peter looked ready to argue but he simply nodded his head and finished getting dressed. 

Once all of them were outside, Asier laid down next to Harley’s chair and chewed on one of his chew toys while Tony pulled a chair closer to himself to have Peter sit on it. 

“I don’t know how to roast marshmallows.” Peter quietly admitted. 

Morgan stood up and handed a marshmallow to him. “I know how and I’ll help you.” 

Tony loved seeing his two youngests get along again. He didn’t know why Peter was refusing to do anything with Morgan before but he had an idea it had something to do with Peter not wanting to share both him and Pepper. 

It was their first time camping as a complete family and it was the best feeling to have everyone where they were supposed to be and not feel like someone was missing out. 

Tony didn’t have to feel that way ever again. 

That was something he didn’t have to live with anymore and the little human next to him was forever a reminder of that. 

“Pete, blow on it before you put it in your mouth. It’ll be hot.” Tony warned him, holding onto his arm so he didn’t go close to the fire. 

Peter turned around and leaned against his legs. “I did. See? Not hot.” 

They continued eating marshmallows until way past Peter’s and Morgan’s bedtime but none of that mattered since they only wanted to have their phone on them for emergency purposes, not to ruin the beautiful moment that they were living in. 

At bedtime, all five of them went into the tent, including Asier who immediately laid down by the tent door as a guard dog. 

Apparently Peter and Morgan weren’t tired anymore. That was going to be fun. Maybe they shouldn’t have been fed so much sugar before bed. 

Harley laid down in the bed and pulled out his phone but then put it away right after, sitting up to be in the moment. 

“Peter, are you going to sleep with Morgan in this bed?” Tony asked, holding Peter upside down in one of his arms while he held his blanket with his other hand. 

Peter giggled loudly. “Yeah! I wanna sleep with Morgan!” 

Morgan cheered. “Yay! A sleepover with Petey.” She jumped into the bed and patted the spot next to her for Tony to lay Peter down. “Hurry, daddy!” 

Tony gently laid Peter down and handed him his blanket and his water bottle filled with water that always helped to put him to sleep. He took both things happily while Morgan sat up to look at him. “Are you sleepy?” 

Peter pushed himself up, letting his water bottle fall from his mouth and crawling out of the blankets. 

“No, lie back down, Peter. It’s time to sleep.” Tony warned him. He knew it was going to be extremely hard to get Peter to sleep since they always struggled with it but it was going to be even harder now that they were all in one tent. 

Peter looked at him, trying to decide what to do. He eventually reached for his water bottle and blanket then lied back down but Morgan was crawling out of bed, causing Peter to sit back up. 

“No. Back in bed, Morgan.” Tony warned, standing up and picking her up to put her back in bed but she screamed. 

“No! I wanna watch Peppa Pig with Harley.” She reached desperately for her older brother so Tony turned to him to see if he was okay with that. 

“Sure but just one episode then you have to go back in your bed.” Harley told her, pulling out his phone. 

Peter grabbed his blanket and water bottle to join them, cuddling in between the two and looking over at the screen. Tony melted at the sight and snapped a few pictures when none of his kids were looking. 

Lights went out shortly after that, and all three kids ended up falling asleep together. 

Harley woke up at some point in the middle of the night with his leg wet. 

He pushed himself up and removed the blankets, thinking that Peter’s water bottle had leaked all over his leg but he couldn’t see anything in the dark. 

When he grabbed his phone and used that light to see what the wetness was coming from, he saw that Peter’s pants were soaked and so was the bedding under him. Harley didn’t want to have to deal with that but also because he didn’t know how. 

He shut his phone off and carefully got out of the bed to go wake up his dad by shaking him gently, knowing his dad was an extremely light sleeper. “Dad. Wake up.” 

“Yes?” Tony sat up, already alert. “Yeah? What’s wrong, Harley? Where’s Peter?” He immediately looked over towards the bed on the other side of the tent but it was too dark to really see anything. 

“Sleeping. I think we wet the bed.” Harley said, rubbing at his eyes since he was still so tired, only getting to sleep for two hours or so. 

Tony got out of the bed and tripped over a bag on his way to the other side of the tent. “Do you have your phone for some light. It could be his water bottle. Or Morgan.” 

Harley shined his phone for his dad to see. Tony moved the blankets out of the way and felt the front of Peter’s pants, immediately knowing it was him. “Yeah, he wet the bed.” Tony stood up fully and tried to decide what to do. 

It wasn’t like they were prepared for this. They were camping with no running water, aside from one water tap but he wasn’t about to bring Peter out there to wash him off. 

“Can you wake your mom up?” 

Harley walked back over to wake his mom up. “Mom? Mom, wake up. Peter wet the bed.” 

Pepper sat up in bed and looked around, immediately looking over to Tony who was standing over Peter. “He what? What happened?” 

“Pete wet the bed. You packed more pyjamas for him, right?” Tony asked, turning on the little light in the middle of the tent so they could see better. 

“Of course.” Pepper packed double everything for both Morgan and Peter, knowing something like this was bound to happen. She went to grab some clean pyjamas out of his bag then the wipes from her own bag while Tony woke him up. 

“Hey, bud. Open your eyes. Shh, it’s okay.” Tony brushed the hair away from his face and let Peter slowly wake up and look at him. 

“Mm.” Peter moaned, trying to go back to sleep but Tony picked him up, ignoring his wet pants for now. 

“Lay him down on our bed.” Pepper told him. “I’ll lay one of the blankets down so Morgan doesn’t roll in it.” 

“I’m going back to sleep in this bed.” Harley pulled back the blankets in the empty bed, practically melting into it. 

Peter reached down to feel his pants in his half awake state. “S’wet.” 

“It’s okay. You had an accident but go back to sleep.” Pepper and Tony made quick work of getting him cleaned up and changed then they put him back to sleep but kept him between the two of them with his blanket tucked against his chest. 

Tony turned on his side so he could face Peter. He used to dream about the nights where he got to be in this exact position; sleeping on his side while watching Peter sleep next to him again. 

Peter used to sleep between him and Pepper all the time before he was kidnapped. They tried so hard to get Peter to sleep in his crib but he almost never did. Then, he was stolen from them and the space between them was left empty night after night. 

Now, Tony didn’t want to shut his eyes. He wouldn’t care if he lost sleep over it but he didn’t want to take his eyes off of Peter. 

.  
.  
.

Despite eventually falling asleep late, Tony was the first one awake. 

The sun was coming through the tent and because it rained at some point in the early morning, it was super damp outside the tent, making it all the more cozy inside. 

Tony looked over at Peter who was still fast asleep and had his thumb hanging loosely out of his mouth, meaning that he had sucked on it at some point in the night. Tony didn’t know if it was something Peter did before or if it was a recent habit he started but he wanted to break the habit before it got worse. 

After slipping his hand under the blankets to make sure it wasn’t wet, he got out of the bed. 

Tony went to get out of the tent, trying to be as quiet as possible. Asier was already awake and waiting ever so patiently to be let out and to get some breakfast. He put his shoes on and went outside, enjoying the fresh, camping air that he enjoyed so much. 

He got himself a cup of coffee, struggling to boil the water and kinda missing the electronics back at home. Asier was fed and running somewhere in the forest but after a half an hour or so of sitting by himself, he got a little bit bored and decided to go back in the tent to see who was awake. 

He wasn’t even fully inside the tent yet before he saw Peter’s bright eyes. “Hey, buddy.” Tony whispered. 

Peter grinned at him. “Daddy.” 

Tony felt his heart speed up. He tried so hard not to react so Peter didn’t think it was a big deal and stop calling him that but he loved it so much. More than words could describe. 

“Yeah, that’s me. Did you sleep well?” He asked, sitting at the bottom of the bed. He was in love with Peter’s curly bed head hair and fought the urge to reach out and touch it. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and pointed over to the bed Morgan was passed out on. “I was sleeping there last night.” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah, then I brought you over here to sleep with mommy and I because you wet the bed.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I didn’t.” 

“Yeah, you did but it’s okay. You got to sleep with us.” Tony hoped Peter didn’t get embarrassed about it although he’s never seen Peter embarrassed before. 

Peter nodded his head again and looked over at Pepper. “And I got to sleep with the both of you.” 

He was happy about that. Even though he was asleep and unaware of the fact that he got to sleep between both his dad and his mom, he still felt the unconditional love pouring off the both of them and onto him. 

He was happy, maybe for the first time in a very long time because he knew where he was supposed to be. 

.  
.  
.

It was starting to rain out so Tony was grateful that they started to take the tent down and pack up everything before the rain started. 

Although they were still packing things away and the rain was quickly getting heavier. 

Peter picked up a rock and tried to throw it at Morgan but Pepper saw and immediately walked over to him, grabbing his arms firmly and bending down so she was at his level. “Did I just see you try to throw a rock at Morgan?” 

Peter knew he was in trouble. He didn’t know why he did it but he wanted to see how everyone would react. He looked down. “Yeah.” 

“You do not throw rocks. Do you understand me?” Pepper used her firm mom voice. She was really good at it but it always broke her heart when using it on Peter but she knew she had to at times. 

He whimpered. “M’sorry.” 

She wanted to give into it but she knew she couldn’t. “Can you please get into your car seat now? We’re leaving soon.” 

Peter started to panic. He looked around and no one else was going in the van yet. Not even Asier. “No! I’m not.” 

“Peter, you tried to throw a rock at your sister so you will sit in the van until we’re done.” Pepper didn’t want to do this but she didn’t have any other choices so she grabbed onto Peter’s arm and tried to pull him towards the van but he threw himself onto the ground and screamed so she couldn’t. “Peter, this behaviour is unacceptable.” 

Peter tried to kick her away but she was grabbing his legs. “Stop it. Enough, Peter.” 

Tony saw what was going on and that Pepper was struggling so he went over to go see what the problem was. Peter was a good kid, it wasn’t too often anymore that he would have a full blown meltdown. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, squatting down and looking at Peter who was screaming on the ground. 

Pepper looked exasperated. “I don’t know. I told him he had to wait in the car because he tried to throw a rock at Morgan but then he started freaking out.” 

Tony grabbed onto Peter’s arms so he would stop freaking out. “Peter. If mommy said you have to sit in the car then you have to listen to her. It was your choice to throw the rock and this is a consequence for it-”

“I said sorry! I said sorry!” Peter screamed, trying to get away from Tony as well but there was something about the situation that didn’t feel right. Peter looked almost terrified. 

“Okay. Shh, just breathe, Peter. You don’t have to go into the car right now then. You can help us finish packing everything up. Okay? Would you like that?” Tony didn’t care if he was going against what Pepper wanted. He was making a choice to benefit Peter who obviously didn’t want to go into the car. 

Peter sat up and choked on a sob. He tried to speak but he couldn’t so he decided on nodding his head. 

Tony quickly looked up at Pepper who didn’t look impressed. He knew he was gonna be getting an earful later on. 

He helped Peter up and brought him to go finish packing everything up into the trunk with Harley while Pepper and Morgan took the garbage to a bin down the path. 

Once they were all set to go and Peter had calmed but went quiet so Tony assumed he was tired considering it was getting late and he was the first one up. 

“Do you need help getting into your car seat, Peter?” Tony asked, opening up the back door and waiting for Peter to come over. 

“No. I don’t want to.” 

“Then come do it yourself.” Tony watched Peter take a few steps away from him and when he went to grab Peter, he threw himself to the ground again and started freaking out. “Peter. What’s wrong? Why are you so scared?” 

He felt lost. 

They were having a good time. Peter was happy but testing them, they were making lots of memories and now Peter was acting as if they said they were going to send him back to his kidnapper. 

“I’m-I said no.” Peter weakly fought Tony when he walked over to his distraught son and picked him up, grateful that Peter wasn’t trying to get out of his arms. “I don’t want to.” 

Tony took a step towards the car but Peter freaked out so he stopped and decided to go down to the lake for a few minutes with Peter to calm him down and figure out why he was acting like this. 

“Okay. We’re just gonna go for a little walk.” Tony told Pepper who looked like she was ready to start crying. He placed Peter on his feet and grabbed a hold of his hand to walk him down to the lake. 

They walked in silence, asides from Peter trying to stop his crying. Tony sat on the big rock that looked out onto the lake and helped Peter on it, letting his son crawl onto his lap with a huge sigh. “Wanna tell me what you’re feeling?” 

Peter played with his wedding ring on his hand. “I feel… bad.” 

“Why do you feel bad? Are you upset with someone?” Tony asked, fully prepared for Peter to say he was upset with him. 

“Yeah… I wanted to throw a rock at Morgan because I wanted her to start crying.” Peter admitted and even though it concerned Tony, he was glad Peter was talking to him. 

“Why did you want her to start crying?” He asked, curious and a little scared of the answer. 

“Because I just wanted her to start crying to see how you and mommy would react.” Peter told him honestly. 

Tony tried not to smile at Peter calling Pepper mommy. He knew Peter was calling her that now, hopefully it would stick. He tried to focus on the other thing Peter said but he didn’t know what to say or how to feel about that. Was it normal? 

“You know that we would have comforted her like we do with you but you would have been to a timeout for what you did.” Tony needed Peter to know that that wasn’t something he could get away with. 

Peter shrugged against him. “Oh.” 

“Yeah… so want to tell me why you don’t want to go in the van?” 

Peter sighed heavily again. “Because I don’t like it.” 

Tony knew he was missing something. “But you’ve been in the van before, bubs. Tons of times before.” 

“No!” Peter groaned in frustration at the fact that Tony didn’t understand what he was feeling. He pushed himself up to face Tony. “I said no. I don’t like it when… he used to lock me in the car and-and everyone gets to have fun outside without me.” 

Tony felt like he got slapped across the face. 

The thought of them accidentally treating Peter like… that man did, made him sick. 

He swallowed. “So… he used to lock you in the car?” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “Yes. So many of the times. I-I said no because I wanted to go play with my friends but I wasn’t allowed.” 

Tony wanted to kill Steve. He wanted to kill him so badly at this very moment. 

“Did… when he locked you in the car, was it for a long time?” 

Peter thought about it. “Sometimes for so long. He-he used to put me in my car seat and then I don’t know how to get out because all the buckles so I cried. Even before but he don’t listen to me and I see all my friends have fun.” 

Tony rubbed at his back, wanting to go back in time and save his child from that hell. “I'm sorry.” He was sorry for ever letting Peter out of his sight that day seven years ago, he was sorry for even leaving the house or not trying even harder to look for him. “We’ll never do that to you, Peter. Mommy and I didn’t know and we’re sorry.” 

Peter shrugged and something told Tony that he didn’t believe his apology. He could only imagine how many times Steve had done something awful to Peter and then apologized after for it before doing the same thing again. 

“Hey, look at me.” Tony wanted Peter to know that this wasn’t going to happen again. “The reason why he did that to you was because you aren’t his son so he locked you in the car so no one could see you.” Tony assumed it was a public place of some sort that Peter wasn’t allowed to be seen in. “I need you to know that you are my son and I’m not going to hide you away from the world and stop you from having fun and living your life.” 

More tears were falling out of Peter’s eyes as he listened to Tony. 

“We all love you so much, Peter, and we know it’s hard for you, adjusting to everything but we’re here for you and if mommy or I ever do something that you don’t like because he did it, you need to use your words and tell us so we understand.” 

Peter nodded. “O-okay.” 

Tony reached over to wipe the tears off his face. “I love you.” 

Peter stared at him for a few seconds. “I love you too.” 

Tony couldn’t change the past, what happened, happened and there was nothing he could do to change any of it but he could love Peter right now and give him the life that he always deserved. 

“Let’s go home now. You ready to go?” 

Peter nodded and slid off the rock, immediately lifting his arms up so Tony didn’t hesitate to pick him up and carry him back to the van, grateful that Peter didn’t try to fight him this time. 

Once Peter was in his car seat, his thumb went straight into his mouth so Tony pulled it out. “Don’t do that.” 

“Why? I want to.” Peter pushed his hand away so his thumb could go back into his mouth, looking up at Tony and waiting for him to do something about it. 

“Because it’s not good.” Tony didn’t necessarily know why it wasn’t good, Harley and Morgan never sucked their thumbs but Peter used to when he was a baby. He wasn’t sure if he stopped and started again or if the habit continued his whole life. He knew Steve encouraged it and actually told Peter to do it. 

Pepper turned around in the driver's seat. “The sucking will cause your teeth to stick out like a beaver.” 

Peter just shrugged so Tony pulled his thumb from his mouth again but Peter was putting it right back in so he left it and shut the door. There was only so much he could do. 

He got in on the passenger side. “Thanks for driving. I’m exhausted.” He squeezed Pepper’s hand, knowing they were going to be having a long chat tonight… if Peter went to bed early. 

The sun was quickly setting so by the time they drove out of the campsite forest and made it onto the road, it was practically dark out already. Tony turned around to look in the back seat, Peter had his thumb still in his mouth and was peacefully looking out the window, Harley had his headphones in, probably texting his girlfriend and Morgan was staring at Peter. 

“Did you have fun, Morg?” He asked her. 

Morgan pointed at Peter. “Petey’s sucking on his thumb, daddy.” 

Tony looked at Peter who was now looking at him. “Yeah, he is.” 

“I want to too.” Morgan put her thumb into her mouth but Tony wasn’t going to allow her to copy Peter for this. She was already copying him for the temper tantrums he would throw before bed and bath times. 

“No. Take your thumb out of your mouth, Morgan. I am not happy with you.” Tony warned her but it was kinda hard to discipline from the front seat. 

Morgan took her thumb from her mouth. “But Peter gets too.” 

“Because it comforts him. You don’t need to because you never sucked your thumb and you’re not starting now.” Tony told her, wanting to be home already but they had just gotten onto the highway and still had a long way to go. 

Morgan kicked her feet out. “Then I don’t want Peter to either.” She reached over and tried to grab Peter’s arm to pull his hand away from his mouth but he was moving away from her and smacked his head off the window in the process, earning the car full of loud crying. 

“Fuck.” Tony swore. They were stuck in the middle of traffic with now two crying kids all because Morgan had to try and get Peter to stop sucking his thumb. “Peter, you’re okay.” 

Peter started freaking out again and having a full blown temper tantrum in his car seat, throwing himself side to side and screaming at the top of his lungs. 

Tony took off his seatbelt and tried to reach out to him but he couldn’t reach him. “Harley. Check if there’s a bump on his head.” 

Pepper had to focus on driving even though they were dead stop in traffic. “Is he okay? Did he hit his head hard?” 

Harley took off his own seatbelt to check but Peter was freaking out too much so it was hard. “I can’t see. He won’t stay still.” 

Tony looked out the front window to see that they weren’t moving and didn’t look like they were going to be moving anywhere anytime soon so he climbed into the back seat, gently pushing Asier over to sit in front of Morgan so he could get Peter out of his car seat and calm him down. 

“You’re okay, Peter. Just breathe.” He took off Peter’s seatbelt and lifted him up. It was awkwardly small back there for him but he sat on the floor of the van and got Peter situated in his lap to try and calm him down. “Shh.” 

Peter shoved his thumb back into his mouth but was still having a hard time trying to calm down. Morgan had stopped crying and reached out to hold her dad’s hand so Tony held her hand while also holding onto Peter. 

The car started to move and he didn’t want Peter to be out of a car seat while the car was moving, especially since they were in the middle of a highway. “Harley, can you sit in the front seat because I’m gonna sit back here with Peter.” 

Harley didn’t have to be asked twice to jump into the passenger seat. 

Tony stood up, having to bend over uncomfortably since he was too big for the back. He sat Peter on the seats in the back just so he could get the car seat out with both hands and put it into the back. 

“No!” Peter cried, reaching out for him. 

“I need to get your car seat. Just wait, Peter.” It took Tony less than two minutes to buckle the car seat into the back, having done it so many times before. After that, he didn’t hesitate to pick Peter up and get him buckled in. 

“I want to come back there too, daddy.” Morgan whined, turning her head to look back at them. 

“No, Morgan. You’re fine.” Tony could only deal with one crying child at a time but his answer had Morgan start crying again. 

“Is Peter’s head okay, Tony?” Pepper asked, trying to pull off the highway to park somewhere. 

Tony quickly checked his head, feeling no bumps. “He’s okay.” 

It didn’t take long for Morgan to eventually fall asleep and Peter joined her in dreamland shortly after her while holding onto his dad's hand and refusing to let go, even in his sleep. 

It was going to be a long drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that! 
> 
> After A LOT of thought and planning and back and forth with what I want to do, I will be writing a sequel to this fic:) 
> 
> I’ve already written the first 3 chapters but I plan on going back to edit and change it so it’ll be a little while before I post it and I’m still not done writing this fic yet either but I’m really excited:)) 
> 
> Make sure to make a wish when we move into 2021! Also remember that a wish is just a wish, you gotta work hard for it if you want it to happen because nothing worth having comes easy!! 
> 
> See you all next year:)


	25. I’m watching you as you walk away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is 2021 treating you guys? 
> 
> I’ll get back to you on how it’s treating me because I don’t know yet haha 
> 
> Warning: this isn’t much of a warning but there is a really awkward sex talk in this chapter. I just wanted to show (if it wasn’t already obvious) that Tony is an amazing dad and is there for ALL his kids through different MUCH different problems they all may have

Tony and Pepper had a long talk about everything that happened the night before. 

They didn’t have any time to talk once they got home since it was already late and they had to carry two kids up to bed. Of course Peter woke up mid carry so Tony spent the rest of the night trying to get Peter to fall asleep. 

It was another hassle in the morning getting both Morgan and Harley to school but thankfully Peter had stayed asleep until they were out of the house which gave both the parents some well deserved alone time to talk before Peter was waking up. 

At about half past nine, Peter woke up and made his way downstairs with his blanket in his arms and his thumb lodged right back in his mouth. Tony put away his computer to give Peter his full attention. 

“Good morning, Pete. Did you sleep well?” Tony asked. He watched Peter look around the room, looking for the two people that were missing. 

“Where’s Morgan and Harley?” He asked around his thumb. 

Tony and Pepper shared a quick look with each other. “They’re at school, bud. It’s Monday.” 

Peter looked towards the front door then whimpered. “I wanna go pick them up.” 

Tony patted the empty spot next to him. “Come sit with me for a second. We’ll pick them up later.” 

Peter slowly made his way over to the couch but instead of sitting next to Tony, he lifted one arm up to be placed on the man’s lap so Tony reached forward to grab Peter but when his hand touched his bum, it came back wet. 

“Oh, your pants are all wet. What happened?” Tony asked. He set Peter back on his feet and felt the front that was all wet as well. He was wearing dark blue and black pyjamas so it wasn’t noticeable to the eye. 

“I peed in my bed.” Peter simply answered as if it wasn’t a big deal and it wasn’t, Tony was only concerned about it because it was so sudden and two nights in a row now. 

Tony looked back over at Pepper to see if she heard and she was already making her way over to them. “Did you do it on purpose, Peter?” 

Peter shook his head at her. 

“That’s okay. Let’s go get you cleaned up and then Natasha will be here.” Tony stood up, holding his hand out for Peter to take. On their way to the stairs, the doorbell was ringing so maybe he got the time wrong and Natasha was actually here right now. 

“Good morning.” The billionaire greeted her, stepping aside to let her in. 

“How are you guys doing? Did you have a fun trip?” She asked, a giant smile on her face. 

Peter buried his face in Tony’s stomach. “Yeah, it was good but Pete just woke up and so I’m gonna go get him changed.” He didn’t want to tell Natasha in front of Peter that he wet the bed, just in case it embarrassed the boy. 

The father and son went upstairs and into Tony’s and Pepper’s bathroom which was now Peter’s bathroom as well since he took all his baths in there and did everything else in there as well. 

Tony turned on the shower and set it to the right temperature as Peter stripped from his dirty pyjamas. “I’m gonna go grab some clean clothes for you so call me if you need help, buddy. I’ll be right back.” 

With that, Tony left to go take the wet sheets off Peter’s bed and tried to think why Peter was suddenly wetting the bed. Maybe he did it before, with Steve, but he hadn’t done it since they got him back so it was random and definitely not something Tony wanted to continue because it was a sign Peter wasn’t recovering and healing, right? 

He made quick work of changing the bedding and grabbing fresh clothes for Peter then went back into the bathroom to help him get dressed and head downstairs. 

Pepper had breakfast ready for Peter already but he stayed attached to Tony’s side. “Hello, Peter. How are you feeling today?” 

Peter shook his head, silently telling her that he didn’t want to talk so she stepped back. “How about you finish your breakfast and then we can talk a bit.” 

Peter didn’t reply. He didn’t say anything but continued to attach onto Tony and slowly eat his breakfast. Tony stayed with him the whole time, not wanting to rush his kid who obviously wasn’t in the best of mood that morning. 

By the time Peter was done, Tony brought him over to Natasha so they could talk alone. He assumed that Pepper had told her about the bed wetting, thumb sucking and mental breakdown yesterday already. 

“Let’s talk, Peter. I wanna catch up with you.” 

Peter whimpered. He grabbed onto Tony, looking up at him with desperate eyes. “Don’t leave me.” 

“Hey, baby boy,” Tony kneeled down in front of his boy. “I’m gonna be right in the other room so if you really need me, you come and get me but I want you to try and talk with Natasha. Okay?” 

Peter whimpered again but he nodded his head. “Okay.” 

“I’m so proud of you.” With a kiss goodbye, Tony stood up and left, leaving Peter to sit down and plop his thumb back into his mouth. 

“How are you feeling, Peter?” Natasha started. She crossed one leg over the other leg on the couch and faced Peter. 

Peter looked over at her, pulling his own legs up onto the couch to curl into a tight ball. He shrugged. 

“Did you wake up happy today or not so happy?” When Peter didn’t say anything, she continued. “You’re allowed to feel exactly how you feel and shouldn’t ever have to pretend to feel another way for someone else.” 

“... I’m feeling not happy today.” Peter admitted around his thumb. 

“Is there any reason why you’re not feeling happy today?” 

Peter thought about it. He didn’t really know why he was feeling this way so he shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“I heard that you had an accident last night. Did you have a bad dream?” Natasha wanted to see why the sudden bed wetting was starting. 

Peter leaned his head back so he was half lying down and half sitting up. “Um… I had a scary dream and I went pee in my bed.” 

She nodded in understanding. “Do you remember what it was about?” Peter nodded. “Can you tell me what it was about? Sometimes it feels better when you are able to talk about it.” 

Peter was too scared to talk about it. He took his thumb from his mouth to speak before shoving it back in. “What if it doesn’t help to talk about it?” 

“Well… I can promise you that after you talk about how you’re feeling with someone, you’ll feel much better after because then you won’t be holding it all in on your own.” She patiently explained to the boy. 

Peter sighed and pulled his thumb from his mouth again. “I had a dream that um… he came back and-and I had to go with him again but I didn’t want to and I was so sad and scared cause I didn’ wanna go with him but mommy and daddy were standing by the door and waving bye to me and letting him take me all away.” 

Natasha expected that the dream had to do with Peter’s kidnapper. She watched the boy put his thumb but into his mouth but decided not to say anything about that right now. 

“That is scary. I’m sorry you had to have that dream. Have you been thinking about him recently?” 

Peter shrugged. “Um… maybe yesterday.” 

“What caused you to think about him?” 

“Um… I threw a rock at Morgan and I got in trouble and mommy wanted to put me in the car but I didn’t want to cause that’s what he did.” Peter explained to her. He stretched his legs out on the couch and looked at his lego man socks that Tony got him. 

“So then he was on your mind already. Do you think about him a lot? Maybe just sometimes?” Natasha shifted her position as well, turning her body to face Peter more. 

“I don’t know. I don’t want to but… but sometimes I do… maybe, maybe it’s stupid.” Peter shut himself up. He placed both hands in his lap, not wanting to mention it in fear that he would get in trouble. 

“It’s not stupid. How you’re feeling or what you’re thinking is never stupid, Peter. Never.” 

Peter looked up at her but quickly looked away. “Sometimes… sometimes, I don’t know why but, sometimes I miss him but then I don’t know why I feel that way and I immediately stop feeling that way because I don’t actually miss him… I just… I just sometimes think I do. But I don’t.” 

Natasha could tell Peter had been thinking about this a lot and it was running through his mind quite a lot. “That’s because for a while, he was all you had and he was all you knew. So although you know that you don’t love or miss him, your body is still used to that feeling so it just has to catch up with your mind.” 

Peter aggressively pulled a string off his socks. “I have a stupid body then. It’s making me feel… bad.” 

“Your body isn’t stupid, Peter. You’re healing and recovering from everything that you went through.” 

Peter looked down. He felt his eyes burn so he was quickly wiping away all his tears before he choked on a sob. “Well I hate that I went through that. It’s stupid.” 

Natasha agreed with him there. “I hate that you went through that too. It’s important to accept what you went through and use that to move ahead now. You have a brother, a sister, a daddy and a mommy. And a dog. And I know that they all love you so so much.”

Peter knew that. He loved to hear Tony call him baby and tell him how much he loves him. And he also loves it when Pepper kisses his face and holds him tightly against her chest. Also when Morgan plays with him and when he catches Harley smiling at him. 

“I just… I wish I could have stayed with them forever and not just when I’m ten years old.” Peter wiped all his tears away because he didn’t want to cry anymore. 

“I know. You have them now, Peter, and I know they are all so incredibly happy to have you back now.” Natasha watched Peter stare at his thumb and the way it prodded at his bottom lip as if he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. 

He settled on playing with the string on his sock so Natasha decided to bring up something else. “Was it hard to leave your daddy just now? You wanted him to stay, didn’t you?” 

Peter looked over his shoulder now that she was mentioning Tony because he wanted him. “Yeah.” 

Natasha noticed that Peter had taken a faster connection to Tony rather than Pepper. She didn’t know if it was because of Peter’s history with being a daddy’s boy when he was younger and following Tony around everywhere and always wanting to be held by the man or if it was simply because Peter connected with him first but she saw the mild separation anxiety starting between the two. 

“Do you like to be with him all the time?” 

Peter thought about it. He was with Tony all the time. “Yeah. He always makes me feel safe so… I like to be close to him.” 

“Plus he smells good.” Peter added with a tiny grin. He shoved his thumb back in his mouth after and looked at her. 

“Do you always suck your thumb?” She asked, getting more serious now. 

Peter nodded, not making any move to take his thumb out. 

“Does it help you calm you down and comfort you?” She asked. The plan was to break the habit to get Peter to find comfort in something else. 

Peter nodded again. “I like it and I’m not stopping.” 

“It’s important that we all break the habit together, Peter.” She watched him shake his head but she expected that so she pulled out her phone. “I’m gonna ask your mommy and daddy to come in to join us.” 

Peter was okay with that. He waited impatiently for Tony to walk into the room so he lifted his free arm up and was lifted into Tony’s arms. “Hey, bud. How’s it going in here?” 

“Good.” The ten year old answered simply then placed his head on his dad’s chest once he sat down. 

Pepper sat next to them, reaching out to hold Peter’s hand. 

“Peter and I were just talking about him sucking on his thumb.” Natasha started. “He doesn’t want to stop doing it so I brought you guys in here so we can all talk about it.” 

Peter whined and shoved his face into his dad’s shoulder. “No.” 

“Natasha’s right, Pete. You have to stop sucking your thumb now but we’ll help you stop.” Pepper squeezed his hand but he was pulling away from her because she wanted him to stop as well. 

Tony stayed silent in fear that Peter would pull away from him. 

“Why are you sucking your thumb now, Peter? Are you feeling sad or anxious or anything?” Natasha asked him but Peter only shook his head into Tony’s shoulder. 

“Peter, Natasha asked you a question-” 

“No!” Peter kicked his leg out at Pepper so Tony grabbed his thigh so he couldn’t do it again. “Mm!” 

“Whenever you feel the need to suck your thumb, you should go up to your mommy and daddy and tell them how you’re feeling so they can help you.” Natasha explained to him while Tony rubbed at his back. 

Peter pulled his thumb out of his mouth and sat up to look at Natasha. “Well right now I’m feeling bad! I’m mad right now cause… cause I’m mad at everything and I hate everything!” 

Tony wasn’t expecting this outburst so he was a bit taken back. 

“And I told you it’s okay to feel that way, Peter, but you have to tell us why. Do you know why you’re feeling that way?” Natasha stayed calm and it was why Tony appreciated her so much. 

She’s been with them right from the very beginning. The day Peter went missing seven years ago was the day they first met. Tony liked Natasha but he wished he didn’t know her since he only knew her because of what Steve put their family through. 

That day Peter went missing, they had to act fast because in the first few hours after a child goes missing, you’re looking for the child but after twenty four hours, you’re looking for the body and Tony didn’t want to find his son's body. 

Natasha had raced all over the city, tracking down potential cars and knocking on people’s doors, pushing her way inside but nothing. 

She stayed with them every step of the way, always expecting the worst and now here they were, with Peter back where he was supposed to be but they were all struggling. 

Peter wiped at his eyes. “I’m mad cause of my dream… and-and I didn’ like it at all. And-and I don’t wanna stop sucking my thumb because I like it and no one can stop me if I want to do it and I want to do it!” 

Tony patted his back, having never seen this side of Peter before. 

He didn’t know if he needed space to calm down or what to do in this situation but thankfully Natasha was there. 

“I know you’re feeling a lot of big feelings right now and that may be a little scary so how about you take a few breaths to calm down so we can talk more. Do you want to leave the room by yourself or go with someone to refresh and come back so we can talk using our big words and not yell?” Natasha spoke firmly so Peter shoved his thumb back into his mouth and pointed to Tony. 

He didn’t need to be told twice. He stood up with Peter in his arms. At first he was going to take Peter upstairs but he didn’t think he could stay still so he decided to go for a walk with Peter. 

“I’m taking him for a walk.” He said before leaving the room. 

He quickly put on his shoes and a coat while Peter got himself ready so they could go. 

Thankfully, Peter didn’t have his thumb in his mouth so Tony was happy about that. Peter took ahold of his hand on their way down the driveway. 

They walked in silence for a few minutes but then Tony was speaking. “Do you wanna tell me what your dream was about?” 

Peter looked up at him. “I don’t know.” 

“It’s important to feel comfortable talking to us and I want you to know that no matter what, you can always come and talk to your mother and I about anything.” Tony wanted Peter to know that he could be open to ask or talk to him about anything. 

“Even if you had a bad dream. Or a good dream, if you want to tell me, you can, and if you don’t want to, that’s okay too but I’m always here to listen to you.” Tony didn’t know where he was going with this but he just wanted Peter to say something. 

Peter went to lift his hand up again but stopped. “Um… last night I had a bad dream.” 

Tony waited patiently for him to continue. 

“I had a dream that-that he came back and he took me away and you and mommy just let him and you didn’t try to stop him and I was so scared but you just waved bye to me at the door.” Peter rushed out in one breath and it even had Tony’s heart breaking for him. 

No wonder he wet the bed. 

“Aw, Peter. That was just an awful dream and it’s not real. None of that will ever ever ever happen. I promise you that. You’re mother and I will never ever let him get near you ever again.” Tony stopped walking so he could kneel down and be at Peter’s height. 

“I know that sometimes dreams can be really scary and make you have thoughts that maybe you never thought of before but if you ever have a dream like that again, you can call me and I’ll come right away. I promise you you don’t have to deal with that alone.” 

Peter nodded. Tony didn’t want to tell him about the god awful nightmares that he still has to this day about Peter. 

He dreams about Peter almost every single night and sometimes those dreams aren’t good dreams. Just his own active imagination turning all his dreams into nightmares. 

“I don’t want to have another bad dream though. It makes me feel… not good.” Peter admitted quietly and reached out to hold his dad's hand again, wanting to be close to him. 

Tony stood up fully so they could continue their walk. “I know it sucks but we can’t control our dreams, baby. What we can control is how it’s going to affect us and what we do when we wake up from those dreams. Next time, you come into our bedroom or if you’re too scared to get up, call me and I’ll come and get you, okay?” 

A smile crept on Peter’s face. “Okay.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter and Morgan were playing nicely but extremely loud in the living room but Tony loved to listen to the noise. He didn’t have it in him to tell them to quiet down. 

Harley slammed his computer on the kitchen island, taking Tony’s attention off of what was going on in the living room and looking at Harley. 

“Hey, wanna slam that a little harder. I don’t think you broke it.” Tony tossed a dish towel over his shoulder, seeing that his son was stressed. 

“I didn’t mean to slam it so hard.” Harley mumbled then groaned into his hands. 

“What’s up?” 

Harley quickly jumped off the chair. “Nothing. Can we go out driving? I really wanna practice.” 

Tony didn’t feel up for that tonight but he didn’t want to say no to Harley plus he had a feeling that he needed to talk. “Sure. Can you give me ten minutes?” 

Harley looked incredibly relieved. “Yeah. Thanks.” 

Tony walked into the living room and kneeled down, having no idea what Peter and Morgan were up to but loving that they were having fun. “Hey, crazy children. I’m taking your brother out driving so we’ll be home in an hour. You two be good for your mother.” 

Peter was immediately sitting up to get more information like he always did. “Where are you going?” 

“I’m taking Harley driving.” Tony answered. 

“Well… how long will you be?” Peter asked, reaching out to grab onto Tony’s hand. 

Tony smiled, knowing Peter needed to know everything. “We’ll be back in an hour. It’s 3:56 now so we’ll be back at five.” 

“But… that’s over an hour.” Peter said, matter of fact.

Tony smiled fondly and ruffled his kids hair. “Okay. 4:56 we will be back. Give or take a few minutes. Be good you two.” 

With that, they were gone. 

Tony was confident with Harley’s driving. When Harley was younger, Tony used to sit his son in his lap and gave him steer the car while Tony controlled the speed on runways. 

Maybe that’s where Harley got the love for driving from. Either way, Tony was confident with his sons driving but he wasn’t ready for the highway quite yet. 

“Alright, put your turning signal on and turn here. I want a coffee and you have to practice going through the drive-thru.” Tony pointed where he wanted Harley to turn off. 

“Okay. Was my turn good?” 

“Yep. Perfect.” Tony felt his phone vibrate so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw a text from Pepper with a picture of both Peter and Morgan with their faces covered in chocolate. He sent a text back of Harley driving and put his phone away. 

He could tell Harley wasn’t in the best mood and that something was wrong but he knew his son and he knew from experience that he couldn’t push or even ask multiple times if something was wrong because then Harley would clam up and close in on himself. 

“Was that a text from mom?” Tony pulled out his phone to show his son the picture of his siblings now that they weren’t driving. 

“That’s cute. Pete’s kinda… like acts even younger than Morgan sometimes. Will he always act like that?” Harley asked, letting go of the break a bit to drive up. 

Tony put his phone away. “I don’t know to be honest, Harls. I mean, when he’s twenty I know he’s not gonna be acting like a five year old but… it’s hard to say what he’ll act like mentally.” 

“Yeah. I guess he’s been through a lot of fucked up stuff.” 

“Hey. Watch your language.” Tony warned seriously. He hated hearing kids swear, especially his kids. 

Harley rolled his eyes and quickly ordered a coffee and a water before speaking to his dad. “I swear, dad. Like all the time with my friends. You know that.” 

“I don’t like it when you swear.” Tony told him. He used to swear himself like a trucker but he forced himself to stop once Harley started learning how to speak. He rarely swears now and if he does, it’s just in front of Pepper with no innocent ears around. 

“Yeah well… I do.” Harley snapped at him then realized his dad was looking at him with that look so he sighed. “Sorry. I just… I’m sick of you treating me like I’m Peter or Morgan all the time. It’s frustrating.” 

“Believe me, I’m not treating you like them. I’m treating you like a sixteen year old because that’s what you are.” Tony handed his card over to Harley so he could pay at the window then took a much needed sip out of his caffeine. 

“I feel like sometimes you treat me like a child. And it’s annoying.” Harley drove away, rather faster than Tony would have liked to. 

“Slow down. And I don’t treat you like a child, you are sixteen years old, Harley. I know you think that’s all old and mature, ready to take on the world but you’re not so-” 

“I had sex.” Harley blurted out and Tony nearly had a heart attack. 

“You what?” He looked over at his son, not knowing if he heard that correctly. 

Harley repeated himself, quieter this time. “Today. I had sex. For the first time.” 

Tony squeezed the car door handle, looking straight ahead. He could not believe what he was hearing. “Pull over. I’m not having this conversation while you’re driving.” 

Harley didn’t say anything else as he pulled into the nearest parking lot and put the car in park, looking down at his hands. 

“You had sex? With Allison?” Tony asked, wanting to know what the hell Harley was doing. 

He played with the bracelet on his wrist awkwardly. “I-yeah. Well… we didn’t actually… like… I didn’t, you know? I couldn’t…” Harley trailed off and looked towards his dad briefly. 

“Get an erection? Get it up?” Tony asked bluntly. 

Harley’s face reddened and he started shifting uncomfortably. “Can you not… say it like that?” 

Tony shrugged, beyond enraged right now. “If you’re too immature to hear me say erection than you shouldn’t be having sex, Harley. Did you do it?” 

Harley threw his head back and placed his hand over his eyes. “No. I freaked out. I just… Johnny and Becca both lost their virginities last weekend and they’ve been talking about it ever since so Allison wanted us to do it too and I kept telling her I wasn’t ready and I didn’t want to but today she bought condoms and Johnny and Becca wouldn’t shut up about it so… we went into Johnny’s car and… I just tried but I couldn’t do that so I left.” 

Tony nodded, listening to Harley but he needed clarification that his son didn’t lose his virginity. “So you guys didn’t have sex then?” 

Harley went completely stiff. “No.” 

Tony wanted to cheer for joy but he knew Harley was in emotional pain. “I appreciate you being honest and telling me. Allison was forcing you to have sex even after you said no, probably more than once, is that someone you want to be with?” Harley didn’t say anything so Tony continued. “If it were the other way around and she was the one who didn’t want to do it and you did so you guys still tried, that would be rape. It works both ways, Harley. I’m glad you left.” 

Harley still had his hand covering his face and didn’t say anything. 

“I know it’s hard but you can’t give into peer pressure like that. Especially for sex. That’s something that should be with someone special who you trust when both you and her are ready.” Tony hated the thought of what happened today, happening. It made him sick for Harley’s girlfriend to force him to do something so intimate like that. 

“Well… I think we’re gonna break up.” Harley admitted. 

“Okay… was this because you guys didn’t have sex?” Tony asked, understanding what Harley was going through. 

“Uh… maybe part of it. We weren’t really working out for a while anyways so… I’m not really surprised.” Harley played with his phone that was sitting between his legs. 

Tony had never talked about a break up with his kids before. Both Peter and Morgan were way too young and he didn’t even think it was that serious between Harley and Allison. He knew they weren’t having sex and they weren’t doing other things but now he didn’t even know what he knew. 

“What is she saying now?” Tony asked, not knowing if he was asking too much. 

“Uh… she’s mad that I left her in the car but… I told her I wasn’t ready so… I don’t know.” Harley groaned again. “I just… I really don’t want her telling everyone that I couldn’t even get the condom on.” 

Tony didn’t think Harley meant to share that much information with him but he didn’t want to make Harley feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. “Well… it’s harder than you think it is. You know what, this is all a part of life, Harley. It’s important that the thing you take away from this situation is that you can’t let a girl use you for sex. Especially if you aren’t ready or uncomfortable.” 

“Yep. Sure.” Harley grabbed onto the steering wheel and looked out the window before a question popped into his head. “How old were you… the first time?” 

“Seventeen. It was with some girl I barely knew and it wasn’t fun at all.” Tony barely remembered that day now, it was so long ago but he could still remember every second of the first time him and Pepper had sex. 

“Your mom is a different story. Why do you think we have so many kids-” 

“Okay. I’m gonna start driving now so you stop talking.” Harley took the car out of park but stopped to look at Tony. “Are you gonna tell mom?” 

Tony wanted to but he knows that it’s up to Harley. “Do you want me to?” 

He thought about it. “Maybe not. I remember that one time she walked in on me naked and she was extremely weird around me for like a week. I just don’t want her to get all weird around me.” 

Tony couldn’t say how Pepper would react with this. He honestly had no idea. “It’s up to you, Harley. If you don’t want me to tell her then I won’t. I’m really happy that you talked to me about this and I’m not gonna take that trust away from you.” 

Harley smiled at his dad. “Thanks. I’m glad you’re not a loser dad.” 

Tony chuckled. “Okay. Thanks. I’m glad I’m not a loser dad either.” 

Tony was feeling great. Harley hadn’t lost his virginity and he was comfortable enough to open up and actually talk to him about it. 

He was grateful he had the relationship with his oldest son that he did. 

They continued driving as if Harley didn’t almost give Tony a mild heart attack and just as they decided to head on home, Harley pulled up to a red light and out of nowhere, a car was slamming into their car. 

Tony immediately stuck his arm out to stop Harley’s face from slamming into the steering wheel from the sheer force of the car rear ending them. 

Harley took his foot off the break, freaking out and not knowing what to do so Tony reached over and grabbed the wheel then put the car in park so it stopped rolling. 

“Are you okay?” Tony asked, already hearing the sirens and looking over at Harley. 

“Uh… yeah. Are you?” Harley quickly came out of his daze and then his eyes went wide. “Oh my god. Is this my fault? Oh my god. Oh god.” 

“No. This isn’t your fault. Some ass jack drove into us. It’s not your fault.” Tony checked to make sure no one else was coming before getting out of the car and pointing at Harley. “Stay here.” 

He walked to the back of the car, seeing that the back was totally destroyed and the driver who hit them was still in his vehicle so Tony walked around to see if he was okay but the man was opening up his door, only a small bloody cut on his face, and stumbling out of the car with a half full bottle of beer in his hand. 

Tony felt sick. 

What if Peter was in the back seat? What if they had been hit from the front? This man was fucking drunk off his ass. 

Tony walked over to the driver's seat of the car and opened it. “Get out. It’s a drunk driver.” 

He saw a tow truck pull up first and saw two police cars driving towards them after that. 

He knew they weren’t going to be home for a while. 

.  
.  
.

Pepper had just finished doing the dishes when her phone rang. She looked over at Peter who was jumping on the couch and Morgan who was jumping on the other couch before answering the phone. 

“Hey, how’s the driving going?” 

“Don’t freak out. Harley’s okay and I’m okay but we got into a car accident.” Came Tony’s voice and it had Pepper’s heart dropping. 

“What?! Is Harley okay? Let me talk to him. Are you guys okay? What happened?” Pepper braced herself on the kitchen table because she felt sick. 

“Harleys okay. We’re both okay but some drunk ass hole rear ended us at a red light. A tow truck is gonna tow the car so Harley and I are gonna wait at the McDonald’s here so can you come pick us up?” 

Pepper tried to take a few calming breaths, trying to feel her heart rate slow down. “Okay. Yes. Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yes. We both are but my car isn’t.” 

Pepper nodded. “Okay. Okay… um, I’m gonna call the Barton’s and see if they can watch the kids for an hour while I come pick you guys up. Send me your location and I’ll be there soon.” 

Pepper hung up the phone and went into the living room to gather both of her kids. “Hey guys. Mommy has to go pick up daddy and Harley but you guys can’t come so you’re gonna go stay with the Barton’s until we get back.” 

Peter stopped bouncing and looked up at her. “Why can’t they drive home?”

Pepper didn’t want to scare them so she lied a little bit. “The car stopped working so I have to go pick them up in the van.” 

That wasn’t a good enough answer for Peter. “Why? But why can’t I come too?” 

Pepper tried to lie again. “Because the car seats aren’t in the car, Petey. I’ll be so quick and then we’ll come back and all eat dinner.” 

She looked at Morgan. “Go get your shoes on, Morgan.” 

Peter continued to stare at Pepper even as she took his hand and walked him to the front door. “Where are you going? Are you leaving me?” 

Pepper didn’t want to do this. They’ve never left Peter with anyone else besides his grandparents before. “I have to pick up daddy and Harley and we’ll all be back so soon.” 

Peter continued to stare at her as she got his shoes on for him. “Where are you going?” Peter asked again, starting to freak out. 

Pepper got his shoes on and stood up. “Morgan, stay with your brother because he’s scared. Can you take care of him for me?” 

Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand. “It’s okay, Petey. I’ll be with you and the Barton’s are so funny. Especially Mr. Clint.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I don’t know them. I wanna stay with you, mommy.” 

Pepper felt her heart breaking. “Oh baby. I’ll see you so soon. I’ll be back.” 

She took Peter’s other hand and grabbed the keys then shut and locked the door. Since the Barton’s were their next door neighbours, it took less than a minute to walk over there and knock on the door. 

Clint answered it, looking extremely surprised. “Hi Clint. I’m sorry to do this so last minute but Tony took Harley out driving and the car stopped working… so would you be able to watch Peter and Morgan for about an hour while I go pick them up?” 

He smiled at the kids, having only met Peter briefly but he knew Morgan almost her whole life. “Of course. Come in, guys. We’ll be here whenever you get back.” 

Peter ran on the spot, not wanting Pepper to leave. “I’ll be right back. I’ll see you guys soon. Morgan, stay with your brother.” 

Peter burst into tears as he was taken inside the random house while he watched his mom leave. He banged weakly on the front door but it was being locked. 

Laura was walking down the hallway with a toddler on her hip. “Hi Morgan. How are you?” 

Morgan patted Peter’s back like she’s seen her parents do so many times. “My brothers sad because mommy left and he’s scared.” 

Laura nodded then walked over to Peter who was sitting up against the wall and crying, looking extremely terrified. “Hi Peter. My name is Laura and I’ve known your mommy and daddy for a long time. I’ve heard so much about you. Would you like something to eat or drink?” 

Peter tried to move away from her and so Morgan put herself between Peter and Laura. “He’s scared of you because he doesn’t know you.” 

Laura stood up, looking over at Clint. She knew that the best way they could help Peter right now was to leave him alone so that’s what they did. 

Morgan tried to wipe Peter’s tears away. “It’s okay. Mommy and daddy will be here soon, Petey.” 

Peter tried to stop crying. “I-I wanna go home.” 

“I love the Barton’s. They’re so much fun. Maybe we can go say hi and eat their food.” Morgan gently tugged on Peter’s hand. 

“No. I don’ like them. I wan-wanna go home with daddy.” Peter started crying again so Morgan sat next to him and waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter:) 
> 
> I haven’t written in awhile and I hate that but work is really draining all the life I have in me. I’m supposed to work 8 hours but my work is forcing me to work 10 hours a day and I hate it! 
> 
> I wake up every morning and I’m like I wish it was 12 hours from now so I could be happy at home or I wish it was 3 days from now. And I hate living life that way. Life is precious and time is evil. It goes by extremely fast and I hate how I’m at a point in my life where I’m wishing hours to go by or even days. 
> 
> I don’t want to come on here and be a downer and whine or complain (which is exactly what I’m doing) but I’m saying this because I know I’m not the only one who is feeling this way. I bet a lot if not most of you guys are as well so I just want to say if you are in a situation like me, if you can and it may seem impossible but nothing is impossible, work hard to get yourself out of that situation because life is way too short to feel that way. 
> 
> Whether it’s breaking up with a boyfriend/ girlfriend that’s making you hate life, quitting your awful job and looking for a new one, getting rid of toxic people in your life, it’s easier said then done but nothing is impossible and good things always take time and are hard to get. 
> 
> The first step is always the hardest (as Morgan said to Peter in this fic before) so work towards making a better life for yourselves:)


	26. For every question why, you are my because

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys! I’m sooo excited for the weekend! This week at work was incredibly stressful! I’ve been under constant stress about a bunch of different reasons and this week was really hard for that so I’m completely drained and ready for bed so I’m excited for the weekend:)

Morgan stayed by Peter’s side the entire time. 

She was friends with the Barton’s kids and played with them a lot but she had to protect Peter and make sure that he was okay until their parents got back to take over. 

Morgan sat in front of Peter and watched him cry. She used her sleeve to try and wipe the tears away but they kept coming so she grabbed his hand and tried to put his thumb in his mouth like she had seen him do so many times before. 

“It’s okay, Petey. Don’t be sad. I’m here.” She patted his hair gently and looked towards the front door, wanting so badly for her parents to arrive already. 

Clint was walking towards them but stayed a few feet away, knowing that Peter was scared and Morgan wasn’t a force to be reckoned with. 

“Hey, kids, are you hungry? There’s some snacks at the kitchen table for you.” Clint knew Morgan couldn’t resist food. She had the appetite of a grown man. 

“Are you hungry, Petey? We can eat.” She asked him, only for him to shake his head. 

Peter looked towards the door. He felt so alone and vulnerable since he’s never been away from his mom or dad and in a stranger's house before. He was so scared. 

“I’ll hold your hand.” Morgan stood up and pulled Peter to his feet. Peter was a bit taller than Morgan but he still felt so small standing next to her. 

Morgan was definitely his new best friend now and he was glad that he was going to go through life with her by his side. It was just incredibly scary at times. 

He followed her into the kitchen, looking around for any familiarity to his house but it looked completely different which didn’t make him feel any better. It was such an empty feeling. 

He was glad he had Morgan and that she was with him since he didn’t feel all that alone when she was there by his side. 

By the time Tony, Pepper and Harley got home, it was late. Tony didn’t know how Peter was getting on, he hoped his boy wasn’t too distressed but he felt a lot better knowing that Morgan was by his side. 

Harley was running inside their house while Pepper looked over at Tony but since he wasn’t looking at her, that told the mother that Tony knew the reason why Harley made a mad dash into the house. 

She decided not to comment on it. They had to pick Peter and Morgan up first. 

Tony rang the doorbell. The Barton’s were busy people, just like the Stark’s so it always took them quite some time to answer the door but this time, the door was being opened straight away. 

Both parents barely walked inside the house before Peter was running down the hallway and throwing himself into Tony’s arms. 

He picked Peter up, wrapping his arms around the boy and rubbing at his back. As much as he didn’t like to leave Peter and didn’t want to have to do it again, this greeting felt pretty good. They had their baby boy back. 

Morgan walked towards them with a popsicle in her hand. She grabbed Peter’s shoes to hand them to her mom and then slipped on her own shoes. “Peter’s sad. He cried because he missed you guys. I stayed with him the whole time.” 

“Thank you, Morgan. You’re such a sweet little sister.” Pepper pulled Morgan against her side but she was shrugging and walking out of the house. 

“I’m a big sister actually. Peter’s our baby brother because we all take care of him.” 

Both Tony and Pepper were looking at each other now. It definitely seemed that way, even though Peter was four years older than Morgan, it was as if she was the older one out of the two. Maybe it would always be that way. 

Tony thanked Clint for watching his kids before all four of them began making their way to their house. 

Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder and brought his thumb up to suck on. “Don’t leave me again.” He said around his thumb. 

“Oh baby. We didn’t want to leave you but we had somewhere to go. We came back and we always will.” Tony rubbed Peter’s back as he was laying his head back down on his shoulder with a content sigh. 

They walked into the house and took their shoes off but when Tony went to set Peter on his feet, he was holding on tighter and whining. “Okay, bud. I’m gonna bring him upstairs and get him ready for bed, Pep. Can you handle the kids?” 

Pepper was looking through the day old mail waiting to be opened as she answered. “Yeah. Are you doing bath times?” 

Tony paused on his way upstairs. “I was just going to do Peter and relax with him in our bed for a bit. Why?” 

“It’s fine. I’ll give Morgan a quick bath. I just have to do a few things first anyways.” Pepper began walking down the hallway and held her hand out for her daughter. “Come, Morgan. Daddy’s gonna give Peter a bath so you’re stuck with me.” 

Morgan stuck out her bottom lip. “Aw, I wanna help.” 

“Thanks, little miss, but I don’t need any help. You go help mommy.” Tony checked the time, seeing how late it suddenly was. He wanted to try and keep Peter on a set schedule but that was always hard since Peter had good and bad nights. 

He carried Peter upstairs and into his and Pepper’s bedroom then set Peter on his feet. “Are you feeling sleepy, Pete?” 

Now that Tony was asking, Peter rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah, but I-I want to sleep in your bed. With you and mommy.” 

Tony caressed his soft cheek. “We can do that. Let’s get you all clean and fresh smelling first.” 

Peter giggled and picked out what shampoo he wanted to use as Tony got the bath started and helped Peter climb in. He remembers he never got to do any of this with Harley since Harley always tried to act older than he was and always whined whenever Tony or Pepper would try to help him with bath times so they eventually gave up and let Harley do it himself. 

Now, Tony got to enjoy his time with his boy. 

Peter grabbed his bath toy action figures and turned around to set them up on the window near the bath ledge. Tony watched Peter, not saying anything and just trying to live in the moment. 

After years and years of agonizing pain, not knowing where Peter was, if he was okay or if he was even alive, he always dreamed, begged, of moments like this and now he finally had that. 

He got Peter’s hair washed and him cleaned up in no time. He could tell Peter was ready to go to bed, judging by his eyes falling shut every so often so Tony wrapped him in a towel, making sure he was fully covered and warm before leaving the steamy bathroom. 

Peter laid his head on his shoulder and plopped his thumb into his mouth as Tony walked out of the bedroom to get Peter’s water bottle before putting him to bed. 

Pepper spotted them first as he walked downstairs. She was cleaning up the kitchen with Morgan playing games on her iPad at the table. 

“Hi baby. Are you ready for bed?” Pepper asked him, walking over to run her hand through his wet hair. Peter nodded his head but looked over at Morgan to see what she was up to. 

“I want it.” Peter reached down with his free hand for the iPad. Morgan looked up at Peter. 

“Hi Petey. Mommy said daddy gave you a bath. I’m staying up late since I don’t have school tomorrow. You have to go to sleep though because you’re the baby.” 

Tony didn’t think that Morgan meant anything rude about her comment but he didn’t want her calling Peter a baby. It wasn’t exactly nice. “Peter’s not a baby, Morg. He’s just extra tired tonight.” 

Morgan nodded. “I know. He’s a baby because he’s the youngest and we have to protect him from the bad men.” 

Peter flinched in Tony’s arms at the familiar words so Tony rubbed at his back but just then, Harley was walking into the kitchen, scaring Peter really bad. 

Peter snapped his head to look at who was entering the room and took his thumb from his mouth to start crying. It was too much happening at once and he was over tired already so he was feeling his emotions extra strong. 

Tony bounced Peter in his arms a bit to get him to calm down. “Shh, you’re okay. Look, it’s just Harley. He’s not scary looking.” 

Harley walked towards his dad to smile at Peter in his arms. “Sorry, Pete. Did I scare you?” 

Peter shoved his thumb back in his mouth and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around his neck. Tony held his hand out for the bottle that Pepper was handing him and turned to leave. 

“I’m gonna take him up to bed. He’s sleeping with us tonight.” He told Pepper and left. 

“Goodnight, Petey!” Morgan waved bye to her brother but Peter didn’t acknowledge her. 

Instead, Peter took comfort in the steps Tony made and watched him walk up the stairs. Peter got a flashback to when Steve used to carry him up to bed just like this. Peter would take comfort in the way his body was rocked by each step Steve took but it was nothing compared to how safe and comfortable he felt now, being in his dad's arms. 

Tony walked into his bedroom and shut the door, turning off the light so he could turn on the lamp instead. Since the parents were working on Peter getting dressed and undressed by himself, most of his clothes were in their bedroom to make it easier for them all. 

Tony placed Peter on his feet, getting a loud whine in return. “Can you pick what pyjamas you want to wear to bed?” 

Peter hesitated. “Um… I wan’ the b’ue ones.” 

“Can you take your thumb out of your mouth and use your big words. I can’t understand you like that.” Tony calmly asked. He had been doing a lot of research on thumb sucking in older children and for the most part, it goes away on its own over time. 

Tony could work with that. As long as Peter found comfort in it, he was okay with it but he wasn’t going to allow Peter to talk to him like a baby just because he wanted to keep his thumb in his mouth. 

Peter pulled his hand away and pointed to the blue sets of pyjamas. 

“Use your words, bud. I don’t understand what you want.” Tony understood perfectly what Peter wanted but he wanted him to say it. 

“The blue ones. I can do it by myself.” 

Tony was so proud. This was a huge deal to them. Peter had a love hate relationship with his independence and either loved doing simple tasks by himself or screamed, demanding that he get help. 

The parents never knew how Peter would react. 

After Peter was dressed in his pyjamas, Tony quickly got his hair blow dried so he didn’t get sick and crawled into bed with him, turning the tv on so Peter could fall asleep watching his cartoons. 

Tony had Peter tucked under his arm. He wasn’t even focused on the tv show that they were watching since he was more focused on watching Peter drink his milk and watch his show. 

It used to be his favourite thing to do. 

When Peter was a baby, Pepper and him were trying to wean Peter off her breast milk and it wasn’t an easy process. Every time Peter saw her lay down, he would demand his milk so Tony had to sit with him in bed like this and feed him his bottle. 

It was the exact same now as it was then. 

Only now, Peter held his own bottle and his legs reached further down on the bed. 

But the way Peter’s concentration was on his show and his show only. The way he twirled his curls with his free hand and moved closer to Tony every so often. 

Tony watched Peter’s eyes start to shift closed but before they did, he switched his water bottle out for his thumb and fully buried his face in Tony’s chest. 

Tony kept the tv on, the background noise helped him relax as well. 

He carefully reached down to grab the photo album that was under his nightstand table. It was filled with pictures of Peter and Tony used to look through it almost every night and weep for his baby boy. 

It was painful to look at pictures of Peter before but now it was a beautiful thing because he had Peter with him, tucked safely against his chest. 

He opened up the photo album for the first time since they got Peter back. He knew every single picture that was in this book. After years of looking through it, he memorized it. 

The first photo was of three year old Peter in the kitty pool they had outside at their old house. Tony smiled at the memory. 

Harley was in the background wearing one of Peter’s swim diapers on his head and Tony could see his foot in the corner of the photo. Even though you could only make out half of Peter’s face in the picture, it was obvious he was smiling at Tony. 

Tony flipped to the next page just as the door was opening and Morgan was walking in, dressed in her pyjamas. Tony held his finger up to his mouth, silently telling Morgan to be quiet. 

“Peteys sleeping, daddy?” Morgan climbed up onto the bed and carefully reached out to touch Peter’s hair. 

“Yeah, he’s sleepy.” 

“He’s so cute, daddy. I want him to sleep in my bed with me.” Morgan whispered. 

“Not tonight, Morg. Maybe another night.” While Morgan’s bed was small and could only comfortably fit Morgan, Peter’s bed was bigger with only a bed rail on the side to prevent Peter from falling off. 

Pepper looked down at the photo album on his lap. “We can add to that now. We should.” 

Tony nodded. As soon as they got Peter back, they added a ton of pictures of him all around the house because they finally could. 

“Give your brother a kiss goodnight and let’s go, Morg.” Pepper told her. She was standing next to Tony and smiling down at Peter. He slept with them last night but she was more than okay with him sleeping with them again tonight. 

Morgan pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek and slid off the bed but Tony was holding out his arm. “Hey, what about daddy?” 

“Oh yeah. I forgot.” Morgan quickly gave a hug and a kiss to her dad’s cheek and left with her mom. 

Tony stayed with Peter, putting the photo album away and getting more comfortable on the bed to live in the moment with his baby. 

.  
.  
.

The rest of the weekend was over in the blink of an eye. 

Tony woke up early to take both of his kids to school, Morgan cried and threw a tantrum since she didn’t want to go and leave Peter so Tony promised her that they would do something special after school with Peter. 

When Tony got back home, Peter was awake and eating breakfast on the couch while Pepper folded clothes beside him. 

Tony saw the tv playing Peter’s cartoons so he knew that was going to have Peter’s attention for an hour or so. He walked behind the couch to lean over it and press a kiss to the top of Peter’s head. “Hey, sticky boy. How bout you eat with your fork instead of your hands.” 

Peter was too busy watching his show to respond so Tony pressed another kiss to his head and walked into the kitchen. He thought about the conversation he had with Morgan’s teacher at her school and that he needed to talk with Pepper about it as soon as possible. 

“Peter got dressed himself this morning. He only asked me to help him once.” Pepper opened the dishwasher to start unloading it as she spoke. There was always chores to do around the house. Always. 

“That’s amazing. Last night he cried until I dressed him in his pyjamas so maybe he needed some extra independence today.” It was one of the other. It didn’t matter how moody Peter was or how happy he was. If he didn’t want to get dressed, he wouldn’t. That was Steve’s fault. As so many other things were. 

“I heard.” 

Tony helped her unload the dishwasher. “Anyways. I was talking to Morgan’s teacher since she had a hard time going into school today and she asked about Peter.” 

“Oh yeah? What did she say?” Pepper asked, wanting to know what conversations were being talked about with her son. 

“Apparently Morgan talks about him nonstop at school and tells all her friends about him. You know that girl is friends with everyone.” Tony chuckled. It worried him sometimes since Morgan makes friends incredibly easy. 

“Yeah, she’s so outgoing. What else did you guys talk about?” 

“She asked me when Pete’s going to school.” That had Pepper pausing and turning to face Tony. 

“We have to talk to Peter about it. And Natasha I think.” Pepper continued putting the dishes away but Tony grabbed her hand to stop. 

“What if… what if we homeschool him? I’m scared to send him somewhere where we’re not and who knows, he could freak out and need us.” Tony was terrified of leaving Peter. It was too scary for him and he’s sure Peter would feel the same way as him. 

“Tony, Peter needs to go to school. We’re not Steve. He needs to make friends and experience life.” Pepper sighed when it didn’t look like Tony was on the same page as her. “Imagine how sad and left out Peter will feel if a year from now, he stays at home while Morgan and Harley are living their life and going to school, making memories. I know it’ll be hard at first but this is what he needs.” 

Tony still didn’t like that idea. He just didn’t feel… right. None of it felt right. “I don’t know. I don’t want something bad to happen to him or he gets in a situation where he needs us and we aren’t there.” 

“Well… we have to be prepared for something like that to happen. Maybe… maybe we should plan a day where we take Peter to visit the school. Meet who his teacher would be, possibly some of the kids.” Pepper suggested and it did make Tony feel slightly better about the whole situation. 

It was going to be okay. He knew that, it was just incredibly worrisome for him. 

“We can try. I want Peter to be okay with this though, if he isn’t ready, we don’t push him.” 

Pepper smiled. “Deal.” 

.  
.  
.

Later that day, Tony had taken Peter with him to go pick his siblings up at school and then they were off to get ice cream. 

Tony would never understand how Peter could get ice cream on every part of his face. It was incredible. 

When they got back home and gave time for the kids to relax a bit, Tony thought back to the conversation with Pepper before and wanted to see how Peter would feel about it. 

Tony looked over at the two of them on the couch and walked over. “Hey, Morg, can you go play in your room for a sec so mommy and I can talk to Peter?” 

Morgan looked like she was about to argue but instead, she slid off the couch, skipping out of the living room. 

When Tony looked at Peter, he looked anxious so Tony got straight to the point. “Pete, mommy and I have been thinking about sending you to school soon.” 

He waited for Peter’s reaction. Tony didn’t know what he was expecting, tears, screaming, possibly cheers of joy. He didn’t know. 

Peter lifted his feet up onto the couch and his thumb poked at his bottom lip. “Okay… well, my school is like… really far. And I don’t really want to go back there. People will treat me differently now.” 

Tony grabbed Peter’s foot and rubbed his thumb over the top. “You wouldn’t be going back there. You would be going to Morgan’s school. She’s in grade one and you’ll be in grade four so you can even see her during recess.” 

“You don’t have to say yes if you feel like you aren’t ready, baby.” Pepper added. “We can plan a day for us to take you to the school to meet some of the teachers and have a look around.” 

Peter put his feet together and focussed on that as he thought. “Well… I’m gonna be super far behind since I haven’t gone in… like, a really long time.”

“We will talk to the teacher about that to see what we can do. It’ll be okay. We just want you to be okay and feel ready for this.” Tony reached out to hold Peter’s hand. “How do you feel about it?” 

Peter let it process in his mind for a few moments before speaking. “I think I want to see the school. On the inside. Since I’ve already seen the outside.” 

Tony hugged Peter against his side and smiled at Pepper. He wasn’t expecting this outcome but he was incredibly happy with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m currently on chapter 5 of the sequel (I haven’t even finished this fic yet) and I’m soooooooo in love with it already! I’m gonna change a lot when I go back to edit it eventually but omg I just ahhhhh I’m sooo in love with it and o can’t wait to write it this weekend ALLLL weekend ahhh but not tonight because I’m exhausted


	27. It matters to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a good week but it’s finally the weekend so yaaaayyy!! I’m writing the sequel to this fic now, I just woke up so in a few minutes I’ll go write it again and omg I’m sooooo obsessed with it!! I can’t wait for you guys to read it eventually

Peter was sitting on the carpet playing with his legos. 

Tony sat on the couch and watched him. He didn’t know how long he was watching Peter for, he sometimes found himself getting lost just watching his baby do something. He loved him so much and never wanted to take his eyes off of him. 

The past week had been good. It was extremely exhausting having three kids. Tony was feeling it start to take a toll on his body. The constant go and the no sleep but he was okay with that. He loved it so much. 

The problem that they had at nighttime’s with Peter had gotten significantly better. Only now he was going to bed no problem but he was waking up before the sun even came up most mornings so Tony would try to get him back to sleep but since that never really worked, he would take Peter downstairs to play with a quiet toy in the living room. 

Today was going to be an incredibly big day. 

Peter was going to be visiting the elementary school today when they dropped Morgan off. The plan was for him to get a look around and become a bit familiar with everything before he starts school the next week. 

It was scary for everyone. Tony didn’t want to send Peter to school, he didn’t think Peter was ready yet, although, if they didn’t send him now, he might get too comfortable and never be ready. 

It was time. 

Tony was just scared. Even though they weren’t sending Peter today, this was the first step and the first steps are always the hardest. Although in their case, there was going to be a bunch of first steps. 

“Are you excited for today?” Tony asked him. 

Peter was quietly playing with his legos and stopped to shift so he could face his dad. “Uh… maybe… what’s not a word for excited?” 

Tony tried to think about what Peter meant. They knew he struggled with expressing his feelings and using his words to describe how he’s feeling so they had to be patient with him. “Scared? Nervous? Anxious?” 

“What does… anxious mean?” Peter asked and tilted his head the way he always did when he was interested in something he didn’t understand. 

“Well… when you’re feeling anxious, it means that you’re feeling uneasy or worried about something so you can’t relax.” Tony tried his best to explain to Peter. He watched as Peter processed it in his mind for a bit. 

“Oh! Then I’m feeling… what’s the word again?” 

“Anxious.” 

“Yeah. I’m feeling anxious and maybe a little scared.” Peter’s thumb was nearing his mouth and that told Tony that there was more on Peter’s mind so he sat down on the floor. 

“Is there anything else on your mind? You can talk to me if you want.” Tony waited. He knew it was hard for Peter sometimes since he knew how it used to work for Peter. Steve would wait until Peter got so overwhelmed and began crying then he would comfort him, not allowing Peter to express his needs and use words. 

Bad feelings are good feelings too so it was important for Peter to deal with it by himself to work out how before Tony or Pepper stepped in to comfort him. 

“Uh…” Peter thought about it. 

“What are you thinking right now?” Tony tried to encourage the conversation. 

“Uh… I’m thinking- I’m thinking that what if um, Steve, um like finds my school? He used to pick me up from school and drop me off on all days but… he’s gone ‘way, right?” Peter asked, getting fidgety and tripping on his words. 

“Well, it’s okay that you’re worried about that and I’m glad you told me. Steve… he’s gone away now. Remember I told you that he had to go somewhere for a little bit?” 

Peter nodded. “To jail.” 

“Yeah. So he can’t get out of jail. You’re safe, baby.” Tony spoke to a lot of guards to make sure that Steve and Bucky weren't getting out of the mental institution. They were on the opposite sides of the country right now but Peter didn’t need to know that. He also didn’t need to know where his kidnappers actually went. 

Peter nodded again. “Just… sometimes I’m scared.” Peter was laughing shyly so Tony leaned forward to bring Peter onto his lap. 

“You’re safe, baby. I promise you.” He caressed Peter’s face and continued. “Today we’re gonna drop Harley off and then you, me, mommy and Morgan are gonna go to check out the school.” 

Peter leaned his head against Tony’s chest. “Okay.” 

.  
.  
.

“Bye, Harley!” Morgan waved bye to her brother just before he shut the back door. 

Peter reached over for the pack of gummy worms he found and was secretly sharing with Morgan in his car seat cup holder. 

Tony was sitting in the passenger seat and heard a wrapper crinkle so he turned around to see what was going on. “Hey. Is that candy?” 

Both Peter and Morgan froze. “No! It’s just… not candy.” Peter lied awfully. 

Tony saw the gummy worms and held his hand back. “Gimmy one.” 

Both kids were giggling as Peter handed his dad a gummy worm. “It’s red and gold.” 

“No, that’s yellow.” Morgan corrected him so Peter snapped his head to glare at her. “What? It’s yellow.” 

“No. It’s gold.” The ten year old crossed his arms over his chest and kicked his legs out then made eye contact with his dad. “Tell Morgan it’s gold. Not yellow.” 

Tony knew Peter was super sensitive and even something as simple as the colour was going to set Peter off. He didn’t want that today since they had a very important day today. “Uhh… I’m gonna say gold.” 

He looked at both of his kids' reactions. Peter smiled proudly and Morgan didn’t react to the news. All good. 

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the school only twenty minutes late. Tony was turned around the whole car ride and having a conversation to keep Peter calm so he didn’t start thinking about it and freaking out. 

Pepper shut the car so Morgan was taking off her seatbelt and grabbing her backpack like she always did but Peter didn’t move from his car seat. “I’ll come around, bud.” Tony said, getting out of the car. 

Peter watched Morgan move pass him to jump out of the car and he hated how she was so ready and excited to go to school. He was terrified of going inside and he wasn’t even the one staying all day. 

He crossed his arm and turned his head over. “I don’t want to go in anymore.”

“We’re gonna drop Morgan off at her class and then we’re gonna have a quick tour and be out. In and out in like twenty minutes.” Tony explained to Peter but he knew it would be taking longer than twenty minutes but he also knew that Peter didn’t know how to tell time. 

Peter thought about it. “And you’ll stay with me the whole time, right?” 

“Yep. Mommy too.” Tony gave Peter a smile and looked behind him to see where Morgan went but froze when he saw that she was about to eat something off the ground. “Hey. Stop putting random things in your mouth, Morg.” 

Tony shook his head. He thought the whole putting everything in your mouth phase was over but apparently not because Peter did it too. He was so much worse but he licked things as well. 

He turned back to Peter, waiting for his decision. If Peter really didn’t want to do this, they would drop Morgan off and go straight home. 

“Okay. I’m ready.” 

The four of them walked into the school, Peter was immediately grabbing onto Tony’s hand and moving closer to him. The family followed Morgan into the office to sign her in and meet with the principal who was going to be taking them on the quick tour. 

She was made aware of their situation and everything that Peter went through which was a huge reason why she agreed to the tour. Also because they were Starks and no one said no to a Stark. 

“Welcome. It’s so nice to see you again, Mr and Mrs. Stark.” The principal shook hands with both parents and turned to say her hellos to Morgan before holding her hand out for Peter but he shyly hid his head in Tony’s stomach. “It’s so nice to meet you, Peter. I’m Mrs. Danvers and I’ve heard so much about you from your sister. We’re looking forward to having you join us soon.” 

Peter shoved his face more into Tony’s side and Tony felt the need to apologize for it. “Sorry, he’s super shy at first.” 

The principal then waved him off and stood up straighter. “How about we walk Morgan to her class and then I’ll take you guys around?” 

They began walking down the hallway, Tony knew where Morgan’s class was already after having been inside the school many times. The principal spoke to them about a few things regarding Peter’s class and where they were in the year and what they were learning. 

When they got to Morgan’s class, she pushed the door open, not caring that they were in the middle of a lesson and she grabbed her teachers hand. “I want to show you my brother. He’s taking a tour today. Come.” 

“Oh. Hello Morgan. It’s nice to see you.” Morgan’s teacher was caught off guard by the six year old. 

Peter looked at the teacher but he didn’t want to talk to anyone. 

“Why hello there, Peter. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Morgan tells me so much about you.” Morgan’s teacher was quick to say hi to Peter since she had to get back to her class, taking Morgan with her inside. 

Mrs. Danvers carried on. “Peter’s fourth grade classroom is the first one upstairs. There are two grade four classes that are right beside each other so he can make friends with both classes that share gym time together.” 

“How many kids are in his class?” Pepper asked. 

“There’s twenty four in this class. It’s a large class but all the children are extremely sweet.” She knocked on the door and it was being opened by the teacher. 

She had long brown hair with brown eyes. Tony’s first impression of her was that she was nice but strict when she had to be and that she didn’t take any bullshit from anyone. Kinda like Pepper in a way. 

She greeted Peter first. “Good morning, Peter. I’m Miss. Hill and I’m going to be your teacher. It’s so nice to meet you.” 

Peter looked her up and down while he leaned against Tony’s side. 

“He’s really shy.” Tony told her. 

She smiled even harder. “Oh that’s okay. I’m shy too when I meet someone new sometimes. I look forward to having you in my class. I hope you like biology because we’re going to be learning that next week.” 

A tiny smile was breaking across Peter’s face. He reached up to tug on his dad’s shirt so he could whisper something in his ear. 

Tony leaned down and smiled proudly. “Tell her I like biology and I’m really good at it.” 

“You tell her, bud.” He encouraged. 

Peter looked up at her through his eye lashes. “I like biology.” 

“That’s amazing, Peter. It looks like you’ll be joining us at a perfect time.” Miss. Hill told him, happily. 

“Miss. Hill?” A little boy was walking past Pepper and tugging on the teachers shirt. “Miss. Hill?” 

“Yes, Timmy? What is it?” 

The boy, Timmy, pointed down the hallway. “Johnny threw up in the bathroom and needs help.” 

Tony really hoped they didn’t pick up that bug and brought it home since it would take out the whole family. 

Miss. Hill didn’t react to it in a bad way. “Alright. Thank you for telling me. I’ll call the nurse to come up and help him. Please go take your seat-” 

Timmy was turning to look up at Tony and Pepper and then down at Peter. “Hi. My names Timmy. Actually, it’s Timothy but you can call me Timmy. My parents are getting a divorce.” 

Tony almost choked on his spit. Kids said the most random things. He should know, last night Peter asked him if he could have a pet worm. He freaking loved raising his kids. 

“What’s a divorce?” Peter asked. Tony could tell Peter felt more comfortable talking to a boy his age but he didn’t want Peter to know what a divorce was. Tony suddenly stopped himself. Was he being Steve? Shielding Peter from the truth so he didn’t get hurt? 

The boy was shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know. They just told me after I clogged the toilet once.” 

Peter chuckled. 

Timmy was looking at Peter’s sweater and gasping. “I love your sweater! I have a whole lego set at home. It’s a boat!” 

Tony felt Peter’s hand slide out from his and he quietly gasped. He was so proud of his baby boy. 

“Woah. I don’t have that one but daddy brought me a lighthouse and me and my brother are building it together.” Peter explained to the boy excitedly but then there was a girl walking up to them and interrupting. 

“Miss. Hill? Ally took the pink marker out of the bin that I wanted and she won’t give it back. Make her give it back.” 

The principal was stopping them there. “Miss. Hill needs to get back to her class now so Timmy, can you please say bye to Peter and go back in the classroom please.” 

Timmy waved bye to Peter and Peter’s hand was back in Tony’s. 

Tony hoped this was good for Peter. He got to meet his teacher who seemed extremely nice and patient and he even got to meet a few new faces so he at least had them to talk to on his first day. 

First days were always the hardest for everyone and at any event. Tony could remember a lot of his first days at places and how scared and nervous he was but he was going to have to remind Peter that it’s normal to feel that way and that it’s just one first day, the days will get easier after that. 

The three of them got back into the car after the tour was over and drove home. Tony knew this was a good idea and he was glad that they did it. 

.  
.  
.

Peter laid on his stomach on the carpet and swung his feet in the air. 

He was watching his cartoons while eating his Mac and cheese for lunch. He was also paying close attention to the time since he wanted Morgan to come home so they could draw together. 

He heard his parents whispering behind him so he snapped his head over and saw his mom putting her coat on. “Where are you going?” 

“It’s almost time to go pick your siblings up from school.” Pepper grabbed her purse and her keys so Peter stood up and went to go lean against the couch as he stared at her. 

“It’s just gonna be you and me, bud.” Tony told him. He looked over and it looked like Peter was about to cry so he quickly walked over to his side. He knew how Peter got when someone had to leave without him. “How about we sit on the couch together while you finish your lunch.” 

Peter nodded and pulled Tony to the couch. “I want you to sit in this spot so I can sit here.” He grabbed his bowl and squeezed into the spot next to his dad. “When Morgan comes home can we draw?” 

Tony wrapped his arm around his baby and pulled him closer. “If that’s what you wanna do. We got more paints so you guys can paint if you want.” 

The ten year old nodded aggressively. “Yeah. I wanna paint me and you. And mommy but not Morgan or Harley.” 

“Oh. Why don’t you wanna paint your siblings?” Tony was curious to know the answer. He knew Peter loved both of them and they got along well but he didn’t know why Peter didn’t want to paint them. 

“Because… I don’t want them in the picture. I just want me in the picture with you guys.” Peter took a bite of his food and then looked up at Tony. “What?” 

“Nothing, bud. You can paint whatever you want because it’s your painting.” Tony understood what Peter meant. He was used to being an only child and having 100% of the attention. 

Peter grinned. “Even if I want to draw a butt? With poo poo coming out of it.” 

Tony bursted out laughing. He loved this age so much. 

By the time the rest of the family got home, Peter was finished with his lunch and insisted on changing his whole outfit with Tony there for encouragement. 

Tony didn’t want to ask him but it was extremely obvious that Steve had dressed Peter and undressed him before. Peter was making really good progress and Tony could tell he could do it by himself but he did it incredibly slow and kept looking up at him for help. 

Peter ran down the stairs and into the dining room with Morgan. “Let’s paint.” 

Morgan shook her head. “I don’t feel like painting. I wanna play with my dolls.” 

Tony saw the moment Peter’s face broke as if he just got the worst news of his life. He immediately turned to Tony with raised arms and began sobbing. 

“Oh buddy.” Tony picked Peter up and rubbed at his back. He looked at Morgan who looked absolutely traumatized at what was happening. “You’re okay, Pete.” 

Morgan was quick to change her mind. “Okay. I’ll paint with you, Petey. I’m sorry.” 

Tony shook his head. Peter couldn’t get used to always getting his way. He had to know how to deal with people saying no to him or him not getting his way. “No, you go do what you want, Morgan. Peter has to cry it out. He’s not getting what he wants all the time.” 

Morgan reluctantly went upstairs just as Pepper walked into the room. “What’s wrong?” 

“Peter wanted to paint with Morgan but she didn’t want to and Peter’s upset about that.” Tony explained and rubbed Peter’s back then walked into the living room so he could sit on the couch and stand Peter in front of him. 

“Breathe. You’re okay. Morgan doesn’t want to paint with you right now and you have to understand that.” Tony calmly explained to Peter but Peter refused to understand that. 

“But I want to!” He cried out, grabbing onto Tony’s hand and shaking it aggressively to get his point across more. 

“She doesn’t want to right now. You have three options, you can wait until she wants to paint with you, you can paint with someone else or you can paint by yourself.” Tony really hoped Peter picked an option since the other option was crying it out. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes. “I wanna paint with Morgan.” 

“So are you gonna wait until she wants to paint?” Tony asked and Peter nodded so he brought his kid in for a hug. “Good choice. I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Peter mumbled onto his chest and brought his thumb up to his mouth so Tony let him. 

After that, Tony went to go do some laundry, leaving Peter alone with Harley. 

Peter looked over at Harley who was staring at him. “You know, you’ll get buck teeth if you suck your thumb like that.” 

“What’s buck teeth?” Peter asked around his thumb in his mouth. 

“It’s when the sucking causes your front teeth to stick out a lot.” The older boy explained and got a dirty look in return. 

“Mm! I won’t.” 

Harley continued to watch him for a few seconds but a question was on the top of his tongue so he hoped Peter didn’t get mad or sad. “Were you allowed to suck your thumb with him?” 

Peter nodded. 

“Oh. He let you? Did he like, tell you to or just didn’t stop you when you did it?” Harley asked, kinda afraid of the answer. 

“He lets me and wants me to all the time.” Peter told him. 

Harley hated how Peter used present tense as if he were still with that monster. “Oh. Well, you don’t have to anymore.” 

Peter still didn’t stop. “Yeah, cause my paci is gone.” 

Harley almost choked on his spit. “Your paci? He let you use a pacifier?” Harley could remember when Peter was a baby and how much he loved his pacifier, how much he screamed for it if it wasn’t in his mouth. He hoped Peter didn’t have one the whole time he was gone. 

Peter nodded. “Only sometimes.” 

Harley hated that man so much it almost hurt to have that much hatred towards one person. “Do you miss it? Like do you want one now?” 

Peter took his thumb from his mouth and shook his head. “No. Not now. I’m ten.” 

“You are.” Harley wanted to emphasize so Peter would stop the thumb sucking altogether but it wasn’t his job to do that. 

Peter sighed. He had been waiting so long for Morgan and he decided he didn’t want to wait anymore so he stood up and ran into the dining room where all of the new paint supplies were. 

He climbed up on the chair and opened a pack of paints and brushes then pulled out a canvas. As he began painting the background, he got a little bored so he began painting up his arms, laughing at the way it felt. 

Peter rolled up his pants to paint his legs as well when he spotted a blank spot on the wall that looked very tempting. He didn’t know how his dad would react but he remembered his fake dad spotted him drawing on the wall and thought it was adorable so he encouraged it. 

He decided to stand up and walk over to the wall to paint it. He squatted down to get the best angle and started to paint Tony first and then himself. 

He made sure to paint him and his dad holding hands, smiling while he painted. 

After he was done, he stood up and went to go find his dad to show him his art piece. Tony was definitely in for a surprise. 

Peter made his way upstairs where he knew he would find Tony doing the laundry in the laundry room so he picked up his pace and walked in, holding up his paint covered hands and arms and grinned. 

“Look! I made art.” Peter proudly told his dad. 

Tony turned to face Peter and gasped when he saw the mess his kid got up to. “Oh my. What happened, Peter?” 

Peter tried to show Tony his hands more. “I painted a picture of us on the wall so it can stay there forever.” 

Tony tried to process what Peter just said. He was so scared to go downstairs and see the mess now. “Oh, buddy. Okay.” Tony didn’t want to get mad at Peter until it was absolutely necessary, he knew how emotional Peter was. “Let’s go see it then.” 

Peter grinned. “Okay! Follow me.” 

Tony followed Peter downstairs, looking at all the walls to try and find where Peter painted on them was but so far he didn’t see anything. He was led into the dining room and he wanted to immediately walk out and pretend he didn’t see anything so he didn’t have to clean it up. 

There was paint all over the table and two of the chairs but he still didn’t see anything on the walls until Peter was walking towards it to show him. 

“Look, daddy. I painted me and you. You’re the bigger one and I’m the little one and we’re even holding hands. See?” Peter explained his wall painting to his dad. 

Tony kneeled down to get a better look at it. 

His heart melted. 

As much as he wanted to be angry at Peter for painting on the wall, he couldn’t. 

Maybe if things were different he would have been pissed but all he felt was so much love for his baby. “Oh, baby. It’s so beautiful. I love it so much.” 

Peter’s smile grew. “Yay. I can paint more if-” 

“No.” Tony was quick to stop him. “I love your painting but I don’t want to see you painting on any more walls. You only paint on papers, okay?” 

Peter nodded and looked at Tony to see if he was mad or not. Tony was quick to stand up and pick Peter up along with him. 

He pressed a kiss to his cheek and went back upstairs to find Pepper. “Hey. So, Pete decided to paint on the walls so I’m gonna go clean up. Can you help him wash up?” 

Pepper looked up from her book. “Oh, Peter. Why did you paint on the walls, baby?” 

Tony set him on his feet in the bathroom as Peter spoke. “Because I wanted to paint a picture of me and daddy for him.” 

Pepper looked up at Tony and tried to hide her smile. “I already told him not to do it again. You guys have fun while I go clean up.” 

He grabbed a bucket of soap and water and went to go clean the mess up. All he could think about was how much he loved Peter. Usually, when his kids made a mess like this he was swearing under his breath while he cleaned it up but he wasn’t. Not this time. 

Over anything, he was so incredibly grateful and happy that he had Peter back. Peter was safe upstairs with his mom where he was always supposed to be. 

He cleaned up the chairs and the table and went to go clean up the wall but he stopped. 

It was so beautiful. 

And it was what Peter created. 

Him and his baby. It couldn’t be more perfect than that. 

Tony wouldn’t have been looking at this beautiful art piece if they had never got Peter back. 

So Tony put the sponge into the bucket and stood up. 

The painting would stay on the wall because something so beautiful couldn’t be destroyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sad because I remember when all my fav authors would update their fics like once every week or once every two weeks or even sometimes more than once a week and I used to see that they updated and I would get this rush of excitement to go home and read it and it was such an amazing feeling and now they all stopped updating:( I’m so sad about that but I’m sooooo grateful for the new authors that I found and read now:)


	28. I’m here to help you notice the rainbow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this fic so much and I love the sequel sooooo much OMGG! I’m trying to decide what one I want to write rn haha

Harley watched Peter from across the room. He felt like he hadn’t been there for his little brother these past few days and he felt guilty about that. 

He hated what was done to Peter. 

He could see that Peter acted even younger than Morgan most of the time and still did things that no ten years old should be doing but he couldn’t say anything or do anything about it because what’s done is done. 

That man stole his little brother and messed him up in the head and all Harley could do was watch. 

He didn’t necessarily want to just watch Peter anymore. He wanted to step up and be the big brother that he was always meant to be. 

“Hey, Pete.” Harley pulled up a chair next to Peter and looked at his drawing. He could see their house in the background. Peter was standing in between their parents who were almost five times the size as Peter and Aiser was standing next to Tony. He looked in the corner of the page and that’s where him and Morgan were standing. 

It was interesting. 

“Hi.” 

“What’re you drawing?” He asked, looking at Peter’s face which was covered in peanut butter. 

“Uh… I’m drawing me, daddy and mommy. You and Morgan are in the corner here. I don’t want you standing next to me but Aiser is here too.” Peter explained and chewed on the marker lid. 

“Wow. You’re so talented, Pete.” Harley praised him then leaned against his hand on the table. “Do you wanna walk to the park? Just you and me?” 

Peter looked at him, confused. “Why?” 

Harley shrugged. “Because I feel like we don’t spend that much time together. Like, just you and me and I want to so, want to?” 

“Uhhhh… I want Morgan to come too. Because she’s funer.” Peter said, not realizing he should say some things and keep other things to himself. 

Harley didn’t take that personally. He knew Peter and Morgan were extremely close. Including in age as well. 

“I can be fun too. Do you want to walk to the park and we can climb the monkey bars or something?” Harley asked again and Peter nodded, putting the marker lid back on and sliding off his chair. 

“Okay. I’m gonna go put my rain boots on.” 

Harley chuckled. It wasn’t even raining out or didn’t plan on raining at all today. 

He left Peter to go do that so he could go tell his dad. Harley walked to his office and knocked on the door, waiting to be allowed in.

“Hey. What’s up?” Tony asked, leaning back in his chair and stretching his back out. 

“So I’m gonna take Peter to the park for a bit.” 

Tony immediately didn’t like that idea. Peter and parks were never a good combination. “No, you’re not.” 

Harley knew his dad was going to say no. He should have asked him before telling Peter and getting him excited. “C’mon, dad. I already told him we could go. You know they can’t get him. They’re gone.” 

Tony didn’t say anything so Harley raised his eyebrows. 

“Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.” 

Tony stood up. “You think I’d keep that a secret if something regarding them came up? I’d get all of us the hell away from here but that’s not the case. I simply don’t want you taking him to the park.” 

Harley crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at his dad as he got closer to him. “Then can I take Morgan to the park?” 

Tony hated how he was about to say yes. He hated how he was turning into that monster Steve was and stopping Peter from having fun. 

“You guys can play in the backyard.” He then opened up his office door and walked down the hall to spot Peter putting on his rain boots and a mess of shoes out in front of him. “Hey, buddy. It’s not raining out.” 

Peter looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah but I still want to wear them. Harley said um, he said he’s taking me to the park to play.” 

Tony watched as Peter put his raincoat on as well and he thought about it. The park was a few blocks away so it would be okay, right? It had to be okay. 

He sighed and went to pull a thicker jacket out for Peter to wear. “Okay. You have to wear a coat though because the rain coat is too thin.” 

Tony turned to face Harley. “You watch him. Keep your phone on you and don’t let him two feet from you. Call me if you need me. Aiser will come as well.” 

Tony grabbed his leash which Aiser heard and ran towards them, waiting patiently for Tony to put his leash on. 

“I will. Thanks, dad.” 

“Yep. Be back in an hour. And text me when you’re coming back.” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair, helping him zip up his jacket and watched them leave. He was terrified but he was always terrified when it came to Peter. 

Peter grabbed onto Harley’s hand and tried to reach for the leash with his other hand. “I wanna walk him.” 

“You have to hold on tight because he’ll pull you too hard.” Harley handed Peter the leash but held onto it just in case. 

When they got to the park, Harley took a look around. It wasn’t too busy but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He didn’t know why his dad was so scared to let them go since everything was going to be okay. 

Peter made a run for the monkey bars so Harley followed him, keeping Aiser on his leash this time. “Don’t run away from me, Peter. You have to stay close by.” 

Peter pulled himself up on the steps and groaned. “Stop acting like daddy. I know I was taken away at the park but I still want to have fun. You have to let me have fun or I’ll hate you.” 

Something in Harley told him that Peter meant what he said. He didn’t blame him. He too would hate the person responsible for kidnapping him and taking away his childhood and any other person that does the same thing to him. 

“Fine. Just… you still gotta stay close to me. That’s a rule.” 

Peter giggled. “Okay poopy head. You’re poo poo.” 

“You little bugger. You better start climbing because I’m right behind you.” Harley let go of Aisers leash, knowing he wasn’t going to run away. 

Him and Peter played on the monkey bars, swinging back and forth for a few minutes until Peter spotted something else that caught his eye and ran towards it. 

Harley grabbed Aisers leash and followed Peter over to the kid who was building sandcastles. Peter sat himself down and took the shovel from him. “Can I help you? I’m really good at building. I’m probably better than you because your sandcastle looks like poo poo.” 

The boy, around Peter’s age, gave him a dirty look and crossed his arms. “That’s not nice. I’m gonna tell on you.” 

Peter stuck his tongue out at him then threw the shovel. “Fine. I don’t even want to build with your stupid shovels anyways.” 

He marched off and even though Harley found the situation funny, he knew he had to step up and tell Peter that wasn’t nice but he stopped himself. Peter probably didn’t even know how to act around other kids because he was kept away from everything his whole life. 

He was aware of the fact that Peter went to school but that was it. Maybe he saw one friend occasionally but still. He needed more than that. 

“This park is stupid.” Peter stomped his foot. “I wanna go to the other park that way.” 

Harley looked in the direction where Peter was pointing. He knew of the park Peter was talking about but he didn’t know how Peter knew since they’ve never been there before. “How do you know there’s a park down there?” 

Peter shrugged. “I sawed it when we drove to the grocery store maybe before.” 

Harley nodded. “Well, it’s too far so we’re staying at this one. Do you wanna go down the slides?” 

Peter chewed on his finger as he thought about it. “Hmmm, no. I wanna pick flowers for mommy.” With that, Peter began running towards the wild garden in the field so Harley let go of the leash for Aiser to run after Peter. 

When he got there, he stood and watched his brother search for the perfect flowers. “Mommy likes pink. And purple but I can’t find any purple flowers.” 

“She’ll like whatever you pick for her-” 

Harley froze when he saw a flash through the bushes. He looked up but he couldn’t see anything so he went back to watching Peter but then Aiser was looking in the same direction and growling. 

“I think it’s time to go back home, Pete. Come on.” Harley held his hand out for Peter but he didn’t move. “Let’s go, Peter.” 

“Not yet. I want to stay longer.” Peter whined out and crawled towards some more flowers but then he heard a flutter sound and a bright light was shining in his eyes so he looked up and made eye contact with someone in the bushes so he screamed. 

Harley grabbed Peter by the arm and dragged him out of there, pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling his dad. 

“Ow, you’re pulling my hard too hard. Harley.” Peter tried to get his brother's big hand off of him but Harley didn’t light up. “Harley! Ow!” 

“Is everything okay?” Tony answered on the second ring. 

“Peter’s okay. Can you come pick us up? I think… I don’t know, I think someone’s watching us.” Harley turned around but no one was watching them but that didn’t stop him from walking towards the parking lot, pulling Peter along. 

“I’m coming. I’ll be there in two minutes just wait for me in the parking lot and don’t let Peter go.” With that, Tony was on his way. 

Harley didn’t let go of Peter’s arm but he did lighten up once they made it to the parking lot and took a seat on the stone wall. Peter sighed. “I want to stay longer.” 

“Me too. We can come back another day. Or we can just hang out in the backyard.” Harley felt bad but he wasn't going to risk anything. 

Tony was pulling up next to them and getting out of the car. “Are you okay? What happened?” 

Peter smiled, not understanding what even happened or why they had to leave. “Daddy! Me and Harley swung from the monkey bars and look! I picked flowers for mommy!” 

Tony picked Peter up, hugging him close. “I can see that. I’m glad you had fun. How about you go get buckled into your car seat.” 

Peter went to go do that so Tony walked towards Harley. “What happened?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if it was anything. Peter went to go pick flowers for mom in that garden over there and I saw a flash then Aiser started growling and then I heard like a camera flutter and Peter screamed so we left.” Harley felt like he was too uptight but maybe it was a good thing in this situation. 

“You did the right thing. Let’s just go home.” Tony looked over Harley’s shoulder but he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary but then again, it was the same way the day they lost Peter for seven years. 

Tony went to go double check Peter was strapped into his car seat properly like he always did then he ushered Aiser in. He turned to Harley. “Are you sitting in the back or the front?” 

“Front.” 

Once they were all safely in the van, Tony started it and pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you know why we have to leave the park, Peter?” 

Peter grabbed the old candy that was in his cup holder. “Because of the eyes in the flower garden.” 

Both Harley and Tony looked at each other. “Did you see eyes?” Tony asked his oldest son. 

“No.” 

“Was there someone in the bushes, Peter?” Tony asked him, looking in the rearview mirror to see Peter petting Aiser. 

“Yeah, it was a monster. Aiser saw him too.” Peter sighed. “I’m hungry, daddy.” 

Tony felt chills run through his body. Peter saw someone watching him. Someone was definitely watching his kid. 

He looked over at Harley and tightened his hands on the steering wheel. He didn’t want to scare Peter, or Harley for that matter so he changed the subject for now. “Okay, bud. We’ll eat when we get home.” 

Tony wanted to get home as fast as possible so he could lock all the doors and windows and shut the curtains. He hated being so paranoid but that was his life now. 

Whatever it took to keep Peter safe. 

He felt extremely bad that him and Harley had to cut their park trip so early so he had an idea that was hopefully going to work out for all of them and be fun. 

Also so he could get a chance to call Natasha about what just happened without any kids climbing all over him and demanding his attention. 

He had to temporarily forget about what happened and get his surprise set up for his kids. “Hey, Morg, we’re home and I have a surprise for you guys so follow me.” 

Peter grabbed onto his hand and tried to swing from it. “What is it, daddy?” 

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Tony turned on the basement lights and turned around to watch Morgan run down the stairs. “Hold onto the railing.” 

Morgan dramatically slowed down then jumped down the last two steps. “What is it?” 

Peter stood on Tony’s foot and tried to climb up him. “I wanna know!” 

Tony fondly shook his head at his two kids. “We’re gonna blow up a bouncy castle in the basement.” 

Both of them started screaming in excitement and jumping up and down which had Tony’s heart melting at them. He was so glad they were so close in age so they could grow up together. 

Tony had bought the bouncy castle a while back for a birthday party for their friends but the party was canceled and they never ended up going and it’s been sitting in the basement ever since. 

“It’s gonna take a few minutes to blow up so we have to be patient and wait.” Tony explained to the two most impatient people that he knew. 

Peter gave a sharp nod which had Morgan copying. Harley helped him move all the furniture out of the way and lay it out while Pepper took both kids up to change into proper clothing. 

By the time Peter and Morgan went back downstairs, the castle was ready for them to jump in so Morgan crawled in first but Peter hesitated. “I need help.” 

“You can climb in yourself, buddy.” Tony encouraged him. He held his hand out for Peter to take then spoke. “Morg, stop bouncing for a second so Peter can come in.” 

Morgan crawled towards the entrance and held her hand out for Peter. “I’ll help you.” 

Peter hesitated again but grabbed onto his sister's hand and climbed into the bouncy house. He stood up and tried to find his balance then started jumping, giggling like crazy. 

Hearing Peter laugh was Tony’s favourite sound in the world. He didn’t think he could ever love a sound more than he loved Peter’s laugh. 

He took a seat on the blow up part of the entrance and watched his two youngest kids have the time of their life. He waited seven whole years for this moment. He then turned to look at Harley. “You go in too.” 

Harley chuckled. “I’m sixteen, dad.” 

“Oh please.” Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed Harley's wrist. “You’re sixteen, not sixty. Climb in or I’ll force you in myself.” 

Harley laughed harder. “You can’t pick me up.” 

That had Tony bursting out laughing. “Oh yeah. Let’s see about that.” Tony picked Harley up with zero effort and tossed him into the bouncy house with his siblings. “Everyone jump on Harley!” He yelled which had both Morgan and Peter screaming and jumping on top of their brother. 

Peter landed on Harley's stomach and leaned down to wrap his arms around him. “Now you’re my chair!” 

Harley wasn’t going to admit it but he was really glad that his dad threw him into the bouncy house so he could have this fun moment with his brother. 

“Not for long.” He rolled Peter off of him and lifted him up so he could throw Peter into the air, causing him to scream and land on his back in a fit of giggles. 

Peter hadn’t felt this happy in his entire life it felt like. 

He had his whole family with him and nothing else in the world mattered except for living in the moment. 

.  
.  
.

Tony wrapped a towel around Peter after he got out of the bath and walked into his bedroom to grab Peter’s pyjamas with Peter following behind him and crawling onto his and Pepper’s bed. “Don’t get comfy since you’re sleeping in your own bed tonight, mr.” 

Peter pulled the blankets back, kicking all the extra decorative pillows off the bed and crawling under the covers. “I am.” 

Tony smiled fondly. He wasn’t going to say no to Peter sleeping with him. He loved it but he also knew it wasn’t good to start any bad habits. 

“Not tonight, bud. Wanna wear your lego pyjamas or dinosaur ones?” He asked before reaching for the pair Peter wanted. 

Peter laid down, pulling the blankets up to his neck. “Dino!”

“Okay. Crawl out and get dressed then I’ll tuck you in.” The father grabbed the forgotten towel on the bed and tossed it into what he hoped was a pile of dirty laundry. 

Peter shook his head at him then fully covered his head up to hide from Tony. Tony sighed. It was bedtime and Peter was going to make things difficult. 

He guesses that it made sense. They’ve been having a lot of good nights so it was time for a rather bad night that was really rare now. 

Pepper walked in at that moment and shared a look with Tony. “It’s time for bed, Peter. Where are you?” 

Peter giggled and lifted his head out of the blankets. “I’m right here.” He said with a smile then frowned and sat up. “Daddy said I have to sleep in my own bed tonight but I don’t want to. Tell him no and-and I can sleep here.” 

Pepper took a seat on the bed and tried to pull the blankets back but Peter was tugging against her. “You have to sleep in your own bed, baby. How about we both tuck you in?” 

“No. I wanna sleep in here.” Peter said, a little more desperate this time but Tony was holding his pyjama pants out for him. “No. No no no no-” 

“Peter.” Tony sighed. “C’mon. You’re okay. You have to put your pyjamas on.” 

Tony grabbed Peter and lifted him up so he could put his pyjamas on but Peter was trying to crawl back into the bed just as Harley walked in. “Uh… never mind. I’ll come back later.” 

“What is it, Harley?” Tony asked while he attempted to pin Peter to the bed with one hand and put his pyjama pants on with his other. 

Harley scanned the scene in front of him and went to turn around to leave. “It’s fine.” 

Tony sighed. “Peter. Stop fighting me. Just keep your legs still.” 

Peter shook his head and screamed every time Tony attempted to dress him so Tony gave up. He looked over at Pepper who looked like she had given up along with him. “Okay. Come here.” 

He picked Peter up and held his hand out for a throw blanket. “Can you pass me the blanket?” 

Pepper handed it to him so he could wrap it around Peter and walk out of the bedroom with him for a break before he tried again. Peter grabbed onto his necklace and played with it while Tony carried him down the hall and into Morgan’s bedroom. 

“Lights out, Morg. I love you.” 

Morgan put her picture book away and reached to shut her lamp off. “Goodnight, daddy. Wait, are you carrying Petey?” 

Peter kicked his legs to be put down so Tony hoisted him higher on his hip. “Nope. You’re staying with me. Say goodnight to your sister.” 

“Can I see your book?” Peter asked, looking at the book Morgan put on her bedside table. 

“Sure-”

Morgan went to sit up but Tony spoke. “Not tonight. It’s time to sleep so goodnight, Morg.” 

“Okay. Night, daddy. Night, Petey.” 

With that, Tony shut her bedroom door and grabbed his necklace out of Peter’s mouth and turned to look at him but Peter only stared back. 

He then laid his head on his dad’s shoulder and put his thumb in his mouth for comfort and because he was feeling sleepy now. 

Tony knocked on Harley's bedroom door then waited to be let in. “Hey, what’s up?” 

Harley looked at Peter and hesitated. “Uh… I was just gonna ask you if I could watch The Wolf of Wall Street?” 

Tony was already turning to walk away. “Absolutely not.” 

Peter giggled. “I wanna watch the wolf on the street!” 

The father walked back into his bedroom for some help from Pepper as Harley chased after him and Peter chanted wolf in his ear. He tossed the blanket onto the bed and laid Peter down. 

“C’mon. I’m technically old enough to watch it, dad. Just let me.” Harley said, trying to convince Tony but he watched that movie with Pepper and they were commenting on how intimate some scenes were. 

“Harley, I said no.” Tony grabbed Peter’s ankles and forced them through his pyjama pants even as he was trying to get away. 

“What do you want to watch, Harley?” Pepper asked him so Harley took a seat on the bed. 

“The Wolf of Wall Street. I’ve never seen it and Mike was saying it was really good.” Harley tried to explain to his mom but it was hard with Peter screaming next to him. “Peter, can you stop?” 

Peter screamed louder so Tony covered his mouth. “Peter. Enough. Morgan is trying to sleep.” 

“Bop bop bop.” Peter said, bouncing on his knees so Tony sighed again. 

“You’re getting him all wired up. I said no, Harley. Drop it.” Tony was very open with Harley and planned to be the same way when Peter and Morgan were older. He didn’t block certain websites since he didn’t want to teach Harley to lie to him and find out answers to his curiosity somewhere else but he had to put his foot down at this. 

“He’s always this hyper.” Harley got off the bed and said annoyed. “Don’t blame that on me.” 

“You’re not watching that movie.” Tony told him again and Harley was looking over at Pepper for help. 

“Mom?” 

“I agree with your dad, Harls. You’re only sixteen and it’s R-rated so no. Ask us again in two years.” Pepper grabbed the cream from her nightstand table and held her hand out for Peter. “Come with me, baby.” 

Peter crawled over to Pepper and took her hand then followed her into the bathroom. Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just drop it, Harley. Please. I’m exhausted and your brother isn’t going to sleep easily tonight.” 

Harley crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay. And…? I wanna watch this movie. I’m gonna be the same maturity level at eighteen that I’m at now.” 

That had Tony laughing. He took his shirt off and walked into his closet to put a comfier one on. “Okay. We’ll see about that. Hey, if you are, you can say I was wrong and your mom and I will let you watch it.” 

“Dad. Seriously. Why can’t I watch it?” 

Tony pulled out his phone and typed in the movie then tossed his phone at Harley. “That’s why. It’s eighteen plus and I personally think it should be twenty one plus but…” 

Harley placed his phone on the dresser in the closet. “Dad. Please.” 

Tony picked his phone back up and walked back into his bedroom. “If you can sit on the couch between your mom and I and watch this movie without feeling uncomfortable or awkward during any scenes, I’ll let you watch it.” 

Harley looked excited. “Yeah. So you’ll let me watch it?” 

“No.” Tony said like it was obvious. “I’ll give you a hint. You’ll feel uncomfortable the whole time.” 

“You’re being ridiculous.” Harley sat back on the bed and tried to give Tony desperate eyes so his dad would cave in. 

“I’ll edit the movie, take out all the inappropriate scenes and then… there will be nothing left to watch. The answer is no.” Tony was too tired to have this argument with Harley tonight. Usually, Harley never tried arguing with him but ever since they got Peter back, Tony noticed his oldest child had become a bit more agitated. 

Tony didn’t know why but he had an idea. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose. It was hard going from two kids to three overnight. Tony loved it more than anything but that didn’t mean he wasn’t stressed a lot of the time. 

Tony and Pepper raised their kids to be independent but for them to feel comfortable for their kids to come to them if they needed anything. As much as Tony hated it, Steve had raised Peter for so much of his life and raised him to be completely dependent on the adults to help him with everything. 

That meant that Tony and Pepper had to give their full attention to Peter almost all the time. 

Tony loved it but he didn’t like why he had to do it; because Peter’s kidnapper had raised Peter to be so dependent on others. 

“Dad-” 

“Harley. Please. I have to put Peter to sleep and then we’ll talk. Okay?” 

Harley didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Why can’t mom put Peter to sleep and we talk now?” 

“Do you want to talk?” Tony got the feeling that Harley actually needed to talk to him about something other than the movie. “Do you need to talk to me about something because I’m all ears.” 

“No.” The sixteen years old stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s fine. Night.” 

With that, Harley was gone. 

Tony felt bad. He always found it hard to read his oldest son since he kept himself so locked up and tried so hard to not show any emotions of vulnerability. 

He opened the bathroom door and leaned against it, watching Pepper put cream on Peter’s arms while it looked like Peter was half asleep. “I think Harleys feeling a bit left out.” 

Pepper briefly glanced up at him. “Peter starts school on Monday. Wanna keep Harley home so we can spend some time with him?” 

“He’s not Morgan or Pete, Pep. He doesn’t wanna go for ice cream dates with us or cuddle on the couch.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes at him at the same time as she rolled down Peter’s pyjama sleeves. “I know that, Tony. I gave birth to him. Obviously I know that. I’m saying that he wants to spend some time with us so let’s just keep him home on Monday.” 

“No. I think I’ll take him driving tomorrow. You’re just gonna have to be alone with Pete and Morgan for a few hours, is that okay?” Tony knew how hard those two could be sometimes. He couldn’t even handle them most of the time. 

“Of course, Tony. Can you carry him into bed while I clean up quickly.” 

Tony didn’t hesitate to scoop Peter up, causing Peter to almost immediately fall asleep in his arms. The father kissed the side of Peter’s face and laid him in the middle of the bed. “I love you so much, sweet boy. So much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the last chapters I know what’s gonna happen but I haven’t written them yet meaning that I might write more or get more ideas so there mighttttt be a little more more than just 30 chapters 
> 
> Bouncy house: 
> 
> https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51P%2BZjOQxgL._AC_SX425_.jpg


	29. Forever and always

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing sooo much and I love this fic so much, I’m not ready for it to end yet but I’m sooooo excited for the sequel ahhh!! Also I’m pretty sure I spell Aisers name different every single time. I can never remember if the I or s comes first oh well!

“No.” 

Tony sighed. “Peter, you have to go to school.” 

Peter crossed his arms. “I said no.” 

“Remember when we went to visit the school and how much fun it looked? You can see Bobby or Tom… what was his name?” Tony knew what the child’s name was but he wanted Peter to say it. 

“Timmy, daddy.” Peter sighed dramatically and tried to crawl his way up the stairs slowly. “But… I don’t wanna go anymore. I wanna stay here with you and mommy and take Asier for a walk.” 

“I know, baby, but we can do that after I pick you up. You’re only staying until lunch time and then I’ll pick you up.” Tony and Pepper weren’t going to throw Peter into school for a full day straight away. It was going to happen slowly so Peter can adjust better. 

Peter still didn’t like that idea. Neither did Tony, if it were up to him, he would keep Peter home with him by his side at all times to make sure he stays safe but Pepper was right, Peter had to start school sooner rather than later. 

Peter stomped his food. “No. I say no. I wanna stay with you.” 

Tony didn’t know what to do. He walked up a few steps and sat next to Peter, wrapping an arm around him and pulling his small body against his side. 

“How bout this, we will drop you off with Morgan and you will try to stay for an hour. If you still really want to come home after that, tell your teacher to call me and I’ll pick you up straight away. Does that sound good?” 

Peter thought about it. He didn’t think he could last an hour without his mom and dad in a new place but he wanted to try. Being with his family gave him the courage to try. 

“Fine. But-but if I want you to come, you have to.” Peter held up his pinky finger for Tony to wrap around his. 

“I pinky promise, baby.” 

After that, Peter stood up and grabbed onto his dad’s hand, not wanting to let him go just yet. 

Tony didn’t know how this was going to work out. He didn’t want to leave Peter even though he knew that he had to. He was scared… he didn’t want anything bad to happen to him or for Peter to need him and him but be there. 

He had to be the tough one for both him and Peter. “Grab your backpack, baby.” 

Peter grabbed his backpack with his free hand that wasn’t holding onto Tony’s hand. He then looked up at his dad, giving him sad eyes. “I feel… scared and a-anxious… but I’m still gonna try.” 

Tony was so proud to hear that. Peter had come such a long way in such a short amount of time. He was forever grateful for his baby. “I love you so much, Peter. So much.” 

“I love you too, daddy.” Peter smirked. “Although… Ned will still always be my best friend. I’m not going to find another Ned at Morgan’s school.” 

“It’s both of your schools now, buddy. Not just Morgan’s.” Tony opened up the van door to usher Peter in. “Plus, that is totally okay if you decide that. Ned is a great choice for a best friend.” 

Peter climbed into the van and into his car seat, giving his dad a sharp nod. “Yeppers. Where’s Morgan and mommy and Harley?” 

“Uh… I think Morgan is finishing getting ready and-oh. Harley’s coming now.” Tony made sure Peter’s seatbelt was on properly then stepped aside to let Harley climb into the car. 

Harley ruffled Peter’s hair on his way in. “You excited, Pete? It’s gonna be so much fun.” 

Peter turned to his older brother with hopeful eyes. “Really? You think so?” 

“Of course. Would I lie to you?” 

Peter’s face turned cold. “You better not.” 

Both Tony and Harley shared a look with each other then Tony shut the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. “No ones lying to you, baby.” 

Peter put his feet up on the back of the driver's seat but Tony was quick to stop him. Again. “Hey, Uh Uh Uh. Dirty shoes off.” 

“Oops. Sorry. I forget all the time.” The ten year old shrugged and caught his dad’s eye in the rearview mirror, giving him a shy grin. 

The opposite door was opening and Peter was snapping his head, grinning when he saw Morgan climb in. “Hi Petey. I didn’t even see you at all today.” 

Peter kicked his legs in his excitement, watching Morgan climb into her own car seat. “Yeah. It’s been so long.” He added, looking at her funny hair. “Your hair looks weird. What’s in it?” 

“Peter.” Tony warned but Morgan was solid. She could take it. 

Peter acted like he didn’t hear Tony’s warning. “It looks like candy is in your hair.” 

Morgan tugged on her one of many ponytails. “It’s called fashion. Look it up.” 

Tony, Pepper and Harley all laughed at Morgan’s sass then Tony was pulling out of the driveway to drop off his two youngest kids. Car rides were probably his favourite thing to do because he was behind the wheel, keeping his family safe and he loved having them all in one place, listening to them all talk. 

Before, car rides used to be hard because he would always look in the backseat and see one missing seat. Someone was always missing in everything they did and in every moment. Not anymore. 

Tony enjoyed listening to his family’s banter all the way to the elementary school. They planned to be fifteen minutes late so Peter wasn’t too overwhelmed by all the commotion on the first day so when they showed up, no one was dropping their kids off. 

He parked the van and shut it off, turning around to look at Peter who had his thumb in his mouth. “You’re okay, Peter. Remember everything I told you?” 

Peter nodded quickly then spoke around his thumb. “We always drop Harley off first.” 

“We will. Just after we drop you guys off.” Pepper told her emotional son. She gave a little white lie that wouldn’t hurt him. The plan was to drop Harley later instead of right after they dropped Peter and Morgan off since Pepper wanted to spend some time with her oldest son who desperately needed it. 

Peter didn’t respond to that, instead, he reached one arm out for Tony, making grabby hands for him. “I want a hug.” 

Tony didn’t hesitate to get out of the car and open up Peter’s side to unbuckle him and pull him into his arms, holding on tight. It was only going to be a few hours. It was going to be okay but Tony was feeling some strange feeling that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. 

Everything was going to be okay. He had to believe that. 

“Remember, if you really wanna come home, tell your teacher to call us, okay? Mommy and I will come straight away. No questions asked.” He promised Peter, pulling his face out of his neck so Peter was looking at him. Peter gave a little nod and then Tony gently tugged on the hand that had his thumb in his mouth. “Let’s take this out. You don’t need to suck your thumb anymore.” 

Peter refused at first and then took it out and looked down. “Can you carry me in?” 

Tony sighed quietly. Steve really got into Peter’s head. Tony knew he had gotten a lot better these past few months and had made lots of progress but… he’s scared that Steve will always be in Peter’s head. Even when he’s older. 

“What’s wrong with your legs? Did they stop working on the car ride over here?” Tony teased him, trying to make light of the situation even though he was breaking a little bit on the inside. 

Peter giggled but then stopped and bounced on his feet a few times, getting impatient and wanting Tony to pick him up. “I want you to. Daddy.” 

“I’ll carry you out of the car and I will hold your hand while we walk into the school. Sound good?” Tony was holding both of Peter’s hands so his thumb couldn’t return to his mouth like Tony knew Peter wanted to do so badly. 

He whined. “Carry me.” 

Morgan appeared at Tony’s side with Pepper while Harley planned on waiting in the car. Morgan reached out for Peter’s hand. “I’m gonna be in the same school as you, Petey. Even-even mommy and daddy can drop us off and pick us up together. And at recess we can play together too.” Morgan gasped in excitement. “You can play with me and my friends!” 

Peter gave Morgan a dirty look. “I don’t wanna play with girls. They’re ugly!” 

Tony tried to hold back a laugh. He lifted Peter out of the car since he knew they could go back and forth all day. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do but thank you so much for offering, little miss. That was so kind of you.” 

Morgan beamed and then Tony felt Peter try to wrap his legs around his waist. “Nope. Legs straight. I’m not carrying you.” 

Peter threw his head back with a whine but Tony couldn’t give in. He placed Peter on his feet, making sure he wasn’t going to throw himself to the ground before letting go and grabbing onto his hand. 

Morgan walked next to Peter on his other side, not letting Pepper walk next to him since she wanted to be as close as possible. 

Once they got into the school, it all became so much more real for Peter so he moved closer to his dad and pulled his hand out of his so he could lift his arms up to him. “Now I wanna go home. I-I don’t wanna go to school no more.” 

Tony rubbed at his back, pulling Peter against his chest. If it were up to him, he would pick Peter up and carry him back home, never letting Peter go and give into his every wants but Tony couldn’t do that. 

He wasn’t going to be that because he wasn’t Steve. 

Peter needed him to be his dad and that’s exactly what he was going to be. 

He kneeled down to be at Peter’s level. “You will have an amazing day, Peter. I will pick you up right here at 11:30 and we will get ice cream after to celebrate you having such a good first day. The first steps are always the hardest.” 

Pepper kneeled down to be at Peter’s height level as well. “Do you remember when you were scared to jump into the pool without your life jacket on?” 

Peter wiped at the one tear falling out of his eye and nodded. 

“Well, it’s kinda like that. Once you take that first step, everything after will come so easily and you will be so proud of yourself.” Pepper caressed Peter’s soft cheeks, giving him a reassuring smile. “You got this, Peter.” 

“And I’m here with you, Petey.” Morgan added, trying to make her brother feel better. 

“O-okay.” He wiped at his eyes again and looked at Tony. “And I can call you if I want you to pick me up?” 

“Yep. And I’ll be right here waiting for you.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead and stood back up, grabbing onto his hand. 

The four of them walked into the office to sign both kids in then said their goodbyes to Morgan who was more than eager to get to class. “Have a good day, Morgan. We’ll see you after school.” 

“Bye daddy, bye mommy. I’ll see you later, Petey.” The six year old waved bye to her family then disappeared out of the office and down the hall. 

Peter gripped onto Tony’s hand tighter, burying his face in his chest. “I’m scared, daddy.” 

Tony rubbed his back. “It’s okay to feel scared but you can’t let that stop you. You got this, Peter. I know you do.” 

Pepper kissed his head. “We’ll see you so soon.” 

The principal was waiting for them to say their goodbyes before walking Peter to class. “Are you ready to go to class, Peter? I heard that they are starting a chemistry lesson today.” 

Peter turned towards his principal, not ready to go yet. He looked back up at his parents. “You’re not walking me to class?” 

“You can do it. We’re gonna see you after.” Tony was holding his breath. He didn’t want Peter to start crying and screaming, begging them to take him home because Tony would without a second thought. 

Part of him knew that Peter was ready. He was ready to go back to school now and it was time to start that new chapter in his life. 

“We love you, baby. See you after.” Tony held onto Pepper’s hand after Peter reluctantly pulled away. Tony waved bye to him, watching them walk out of the office and down the hallway. 

He was so proud of Peter for doing this. Even if he called in thirty minutes to get picked up, Tony would forever be proud of Peter. 

Forever and always. 

The walk back to the van was silent. 

Tony and Pepper were both thinking about how it went and how much of a step up of improvement this was for Peter. 

They got into the car and sighed heavily. The hard part was done. 

Harley put his phone down, looking at his parents. “How did it go? Did he cause a scene?” 

Tony smiled. “Nope. It actually went really well.” 

“Wow. That’s surprising.” Harley didn’t believe it. “I honestly thought you were going to carry him back to the car with him crying.” 

Tony felt the same way. “Me too.” 

“Really?” Pepper turned her head to look at her husband in shock. “I knew he was going to do it. He’s so ready, he just didn’t know it yet.” 

Tony didn’t start the car just yet. He wanted to be sure. “Let’s just wait ten minutes to see if he doesn’t want to stay.” 

Deep down, Tony knew Peter was going to stay. He was a smart kid who thrived in a learning environment. It was just going to take a bit of time to adjust to. 

After the ten minutes and no Peter, Tony started the car to drive back home when Harley spoke up. “Peter’s gonna need braces.” 

“Yeah, so did you.” Tony said, looking at Harley in the rearview mirror, not knowing why he was saying that so randomly. 

“Yeah but that’s because I got your bad teeth and I wasn’t blessed with mom's perfect teeth.” Harley knew his dad had braces for three years when he turned twelve. Harley had them at twelve for three years as well. 

Tony chuckled. “Oh. Good thing Peter isn’t in this car because I’m about to say the L word. Mom lied.” 

“Hey,” Pepper slapped Tony’s arm. “I didn’t lie.” 

“Oh yeah? Tell Harley how you had a retainer for five years in college.” Tony knew all about that. She even wore a retainer to bed every night but stopped shortly after they lost Peter. 

Harley gasped. “No way. Wow, you’re holding out on me, mom.” 

“I am not. Do not listen to your father.” Pepper rolled her eyes at both her husband and son. 

“Well, Peter will probably need braces for years judging by how often he sucks his thumb.” Harley said again and it had the whole car going silent for a few seconds. 

“We’re trying to break the habit but we can’t force him to, he’ll stop when he’s ready.” Tony read tons of parenting books on thumb sucking at ten years old and most had said not to worry and that the child will grow out of it when they are ready to but Tony thought it was going to be a bit different for Peter so he was a little bit worried about that. 

Harley continued. “He told me he used to have a pacifier. Like, recently.” 

That had both parents going pale. Tony tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He did not know that. Peter was attached to either Pepper’s nipple or the pacifier before he was kidnapped so it made sense for him to still want it even after… but he shouldn’t have had it recently, meaning at age ten. 

Pepper cleared her throat. “When did he tell you that, Harley?” 

“Oh. I thought you guys knew.” Harley felt a bit bad about that now. He felt like he was withholding important information regarding Peter to his parents. “Uh, maybe a few days ago. I can’t really remember but… yeah. You guys didn’t know? Like, he doesn’t ask for a soother or anything?” 

“Of course we didn’t know.” Tony tried to think back. Peter had never outright asked for a pacifier but now that Tony thinks about it, he chews and sucks on the spout of his water bottle before bed when he gets one sometimes. 

Maybe they shouldn’t encourage that? 

Pepper grabbed onto Tony’s hand, seeing his mind racing. “We have Peter back. Everything after that is just… a few small bumps in the road that we can handle.” 

Tony nodded. He knew that. They could handle anything life throws at them now. Just not Peter getting ripped away from them again, that was something they could not handle. 

“I know. Just… let’s not mention pacifiers around him in case he thinks we’ll give him one if he asks.” Tony didn’t need that on top of everything else they were trying to fix and recover from. 

He had a lot on his plate right now and as much as he missed the full house with messes and kids running wild, he was going to take advantage of the peace and quiet to get a few necessary things done. 

Pepper and Harley dropped him off back at home then went out to spend some time together. Tony saw that Harley loved the plan but was pretending that it was the last thing he wanted to do. 

Typical teens. 

Tony sat down in his office and got to work. 

He called Natasha to see if she found out anything about the mysterious person in the bushes at the park that was apparently taking pictures of Peter. 

Of course the Stark’s were in the public eye but Tony tried his best from the very beginning, as soon as Harley was born to make it known that no paparazzi or press was to take pictures or come up to him if he was with his kids. 

Of course after Peter went missing, everyone did the opposite of that and Tony absolutely lost it on a group of reporters once. After that, no one ever dared to bother them again. 

So now Tony was scared. No, he was terrified that it wasn’t the paparazzi. 

As much as he hated those vultures, it meant no one was stalking Peter. It meant Peter was safe and all Tony had to do was hold another press meeting to warn everyone to back the fuck away from his family. 

“What did you find?” Tony asked Natasha once the phone call connected. 

“Good news and bad news. Apparently some bastard was trying to get his picture in the next gossip magazine.” Natasha said. 

Tony sighed with relief. Okay, so paparazzi. 

“What’s the bad news?” He asked, scared about the answer. 

“Bad news is that he works fast. He already sold a picture to New York Gossip Week. I’ll send it to you. Peter’s face is clear as day.” 

“Fuck.” Tony threw a folder down on his desk, causing his laptop to fall off the table and land on the floor with a loud thud. It was probably broken now. “I shouldn’t have let them go. Fuck, man.” 

“It’s fine. We’ll get in front of it before it gets out. Pepper’s really good at that. Tell her as soon as possible.” Natasha sent over the picture so Tony clicked on the image and saw it. 

Peter’s smiling face was right in the middle of the screen. He was looking down at some flowers in the garden where they had said the creep in the bushes were. Aiser could be seen off to the side, growling at the camera, looking straight into the lenses while Peter remained completely oblivious. 

Harley wasn’t seen in the picture at all. In fact, no one else was in the background. It was all focused on Peter. That made Tony feel really uneasy. 

“Something about this doesn’t seem right.” Tony thought out loud, mostly to himself. 

“Well, of course not. You specifically said not for anyone to take pictures of your family. I guess they just got excited for money that Peter’s back and wanted their story out there.” Natasha said with reason but Tony still felt off. 

Maybe it was because Peter had never gotten his picture taken by paparazzi before. The one time he had, he was a baby and was snuggled up in Pepper’s arms then Tony had snatched the camera from the guy and smashed it on the concrete. 

He wasn’t there to do that this time. 

He stood up to pick up his laptop, surprised that it wasn’t shattered. “Alright. I’m gonna talk to Pep when her and Harley get home.” 

Tony needed to fix this. He couldn’t have Peter’s picture spread across the world, possibly giving out their location. 

.  
.  
.

Harley moved to the front passenger seat while Pepper climbed into the driver's seat. “You know, I’m a really good driver. Just ask dad.” 

Pepper shook her head fondly and pulled out of the driveway. “I know. I’m still not letting you drive.” 

“I know. I just wanted to try.” He smirked. “You’re way too paranoid anyways. I don’t need that stress behind the wheel.” 

“Hey,” Pepper playfully smacked his arm. “watch your mouth.” 

She looked over at her son. She was so proud of the man he was growing up to be and so incredibly proud how well he’s managed to handle everything life throws at him. 

“You’re an amazing older brother, Harley. And an even more amazing young man. I’m so proud of you.” 

It felt good to hear. Harley found it hard to believe so he needed to hear it again. “Yeah well, thanks.” 

“We can do whatever you want. We have until eleven.” Pepper was already driving to one of their favourite cheeseburgers spots. It was still really early for greasy cheeseburgers but it was a once in a while occasion. 

“Uh… alright.” 

“C’mon, I know I’m not your dad and you feel like you can’t open up to me as much but I know you guys talk about stuff when he takes you driving so talk to me now.” Pepper knew Harley was harder to talk to than Peter or Morgan were but that was all the more reason to try harder. 

Harley felt his heart skip a beat. Had his dad told his mom about the time he almost lost his virginity? He didn’t think so. His dad wouldn’t do that. 

“I know. Um… does dad like… like tell you what we talk about?” He needed to know so he could remember to never tell his father anything ever again. 

Pepper turned to look at him. “No. Of course not, Harley. I know you guys talk about stuff and he won’t tell me anything because that’s between you and him and I respect that all the way.” She sighed. “I just… I want you to open up to me too.” 

Harley didn’t like opening up to anyone. “I do. Kinda.” 

“You don’t. How was school,” She imitated him. “good. Anything interesting happen? No.” 

Harley didn’t know what to say to that. “What? School was good and nothing interesting ever happens. Try asking Peter today. That’ll be interesting.” 

Pepper pulled into the small parking lot of the restaurant and into the drive thru. “Harley. We’re not talking about Peter right now. Don’t try to change the subject.” 

“I’m not, mom.” It was frustrating for the both of them. 

“I just want you to open up to me.” 

“It’s hard.” Harley threw his head back so it hit the seat. “It’s really hard for me and I don’t know why. I guess… you know, after Peter went missing, I was nine and like, I was old enough to understand that I once had a brother and then I didn’t and you and dad were like, a wreak. You guys… you guys divorced for like a year.” 

“Is that what you think?” It wasn’t the truth but it wasn’t far from it. When Peter was kidnapped, Pepper and Tony split. Pepper took Harley to go live with her parents while Tony practically worked himself into a coma. 

Morgan was the reason their marriage held together all those years. Without her, they wouldn’t have survived. The only thing that kept Tony alive was the hope that Peter was still alive and waiting for him. 

Harley witnessed all of that. “Morgan was too young to even know what was happening. She still is but the difference is that she never met Peter. She just knew of him.” 

Pepper stayed silent so Harley could continue. 

“Dad was obsessed. He used to show Morgan pictures of Peter and tell her stories every single night to keep his memory alive and so she would know who her brother is and like, now- now dad is still obsessed with Peter and keeping him safe and I don’t think it’s like… I don’t know, healthy.” Harley rushed out all in one breath. He was feeling so many things at once. 

“Your dad is extremely protective, Harley. To the point where it is a bit obsessive but you can’t possibly understand what it’s like. Not unless you have your own kids.” Pepper didn’t want to put that all on Harley. To feel the pain they went through. 

To have the child you birthed ripped out of your arms and to not see him for seven years. It was a complete hell they were living in, not knowing if the day you wake up was going to be the day they were going to find Peter or find his body, or what was left of it. 

“I don’t think that-” 

“No. No, you don’t get to say anything about that, Harley. Your dad is overprotective of Peter because he has a reason to be. Because this world is so messed up that we go crazy if we lose sight of Peter for a second.” Pepper pulled up to the window to order, feeling like she had to calm down. 

After she was done ordering, Harley spoke. “I’m sorry.” 

“I know. I don’t expect you to understand what it’s like but I want you to understand why your father is the way he is with Peter.” It was a lot she was asking from Harley but she didn’t even know that he had picked up on it. 

“I know, mom. I-I understand that.” Harley did understand it, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that he hated how unfair life was to Peter and how he had to go through so much and was only ten years old. 

Life wasn’t fair and Peter had yet to fully understand that. 

Pepper wanted to change the subject now that they had their burgers and parked somewhere. “So, you want to watch Wolf of Wall Street?” 

Harley rolled his eyes. “Well, not anymore. Not after you and dad flipped on me for even suggesting it.” 

“We didn’t flip on you. We just don’t want you watching it.” Pepper took a bite from her burger and shifted more to face Harley. 

“Yeah well, I don’t want to watch it now anyways. Dad’s right.” 

That had Pepper gasping. “Oh, wait till I tell your father you said he was right.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter didn’t know how he was feeling. 

He felt like he was feeling a bunch of emotions at once and one of those emotions was excitement. 

He had been introduced to his new classmates and they all seemed extremely happy to welcome him to their class, going as far to come up to him and ask him questions about himself, offering to play with him at recess and eat lunch together at their desks. 

Peter had always been shy and always had a lot of trouble making friends at school but something about this school had felt good. Like he could do it. 

His mom and dad said he could, so he would. 

He was seated at one of the desk groups with Timmy from before and two new boys that were really funny, James and Barker. 

Peter felt extremely scared and completely out of his comfort zone but he realized that he could do this. 

When first recess began, Peter put his sweater on and changed his outdoor shoes then he was joined by Timmy. “Peter, let’s go! I wanna show you the fort that me and James are building.” 

He grabbed onto Peter’s hand to show him, running with him down the stairs and through the doors leading outside. There was a forest across from the field that Peter was led to. 

“Where are we going?” He asked, trying to keep up but Timmy was running fast. “You’re going too fast.” 

Timmy slowed down. “It’s okay. We’re here.” He grabbed a stick and tossed it into the forest, grabbing onto Peter’s hand again. “Follow me.” 

Peter had to crawl into the tiny hole for the entrance and looked around at the inside. It was so cool. There were two other boys inside, playing with cars in the dirt. 

“Who are you?” 

Peter suddenly felt like he wanted to cry but he didn’t know why. Timmy crawled in after him and Peter moved a bit closer to him. “This is Peter. It’s his first day today and he likes StarWars.” 

Both of the boys smiled at that. “Cool. We can be best friends now. This is my twin brother, Max. I’m Miles.” 

“I already have a best friend.” Peter told them honestly and then thought of Harley and Morgan. “I have a brother too. He’s not my twin. He’s big. And I have a little sister.” 

Miles handed him a blue car. “How old is your brother? Is he lots older or little bit older?” 

Peter thought about it. He forgot how old Harley was. “Uh, maybe lots older. He’s so bigger.” 

Timmy grabbed a yellow car and sat down next to Peter. “That’s wrong grammar. Is… I forget now.” 

Peter didn’t know what Timmy was talking about but then Max’s eyes went wide. “Oh! I need to poop! I’ll be back.” 

“My dad says zebra strips in underwear.” Timmy chuckled. “If I get poop in my underwear.” 

Peter bursted out laughing. It felt good to belly laugh at that. 

Timmy grabbed his arm again. “Let’s go find a mud puddle together to put our cars in.” 

The two of them crawled out of the fort. “Is Max coming?” Peter asked. 

“I’m Miles.” The other twin corrected. Peter turned to Timmy, giving him a look but Timmy grabbed his hand, pulling him along and laughing like crazy with Peter. 

“I can never tell them apart either so I have no advice for you.” 

Peter looked over and spotted Morgan playing hopscotch with her friends so he turned in that direction. “Hey, that’s my sister.” 

He started running towards her, feeling a sudden wave of safety wash over him at seeing a familiar face. “Morgan!” 

The six year old gasped and looked up at her brother, fully standing up to give him a hug. “Petey! I missed you! Are you playing at recess too?” 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. We’re trying to find a muddy spot to play with our cars in.” 

Morgan looked at Timmy, eyeing him up and down. “Hi! I’m Petey’s sister and my daddy taught me how to punch hard.” 

Timmy eyed her back. “I’m not allowed to punch girls. That’s what daddy said.” 

No one had ever told Peter not to punch girls and he punches Morgan all the time. He grabbed onto Timmy's hand. “I wanna find a mud puddle now. Let’s go.” 

.  
.  
.

Tony and Pepper drove to the school almost an hour early. They didn’t want to be late just in case there was a lot of traffic and they definitely couldn’t wait any longer. 

Both of them missed their little boy so much and were so eager to know how everything went. 

When it was time, the two of them headed into the school and waited for the time to hit for Peter to make his way into the office. 

Tony saw his boy walking down the hallway with his backpack on and he couldn’t wait any longer so he walked out of the office and held his arms out for Peter who immediately started running towards him. 

“Daddy!” 

It was the best feeling. To have Peter run into his arms and hold his kid after hours without him. Maybe Tony developed some sort of codependency but he didn’t care. “Hi, baby. I missed you so much. How was school?” 

Peter pulled back from the hug to look at his dad. “Good! I had recess and even saw Morgan!” 

Tony held Peter in his arms, not wanting to let go and wanting to hear everything he had to say. “Wow! Did you make any new friends?” 

Peter nodded, his smiling widening. “Yeah! I sit in a group with Timmy from before and James and Barker who has a lot of boogers. And-and-and then, even I mean at recess… and-and,” 

Tony smiled, running a hand through Peter’s now sticky curls to get him to breathe a little bit in his over excitement but both parents loved that so much. 

Peter struggled with his words a lot. 

“Take your time, buddy. What happened during recess?” Tony asked, encouraging Peter. 

Peter looked around. “Uhh… oh yeah! Then at recess um, Timmy, we ran outside and he said he has a fort! So I went inside and we played um… cars! And there are twins too! But I forgetted their names.” 

“I’m so glad you had a good day, baby. We’re so proud of you.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s cheek, not knowing what kind of germs were even on his face right now but he didn’t care. 

Pepper rubbed at his back. “Are you hungry? We’re gonna go eat lunch together.” Peter was missing lunch at school since he was leaving early so he didn’t eat yet. 

“Yeah.” Peter leaned his head against his dad’s shoulder with a yawn. 

“Did you go pee before you came down?” Tony asked him. They had a talk with his teacher about his bathroom breaks and how Peter sometimes forgot so she had to remind him every once and awhile if he didn’t go to avoid any accidents. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. I went just before but I don’t like the white things with the soaps inside. I just like the toilets.” 

“The urinals?” Tony asked. He knew Peter sometimes still sat on the toilet to go pee so he wasn’t surprised and every time they used a public bathroom, Peter always went for the toilets so he probably wasn’t used to or didn’t know how to use the urinals. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. I’m tired, daddy. Is Morgan coming home too?” 

The three of them signed Peter out and left but Tony didn’t want to put Peter down just yet. 

“Not right now. She will stay until the end of the day then we’ll pick her up but let’s get some food in you.” Tony was so proud of Peter he couldn’t put it into words. 

This was a huge step up and Tony was so grateful he got to witness it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys liked this chapter. I haven’t written the last chapter yet, I know what I want to happen but when I start writing it things always change so as if right now I don’t know if there will be one more chapter left or more 
> 
> Also notice how Tony and Pepper only ever call Peter baby?:) I do that on purpose and it’s just so cute, they don’t love him more, just differently! 
> 
> Also also when they dropped Peter off at school I was going to have him kicking and crying and screaming but I feel like he is ready for school as mentioned in the chapter and Tony so would have taken him home if Peter cried like that


	30. I will always love you, even when I’m gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys!!! Last chapter! I’m both sad and excited. I’m sad because this fic is coming to an end but I’m excited for the sequel:)) 
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter got dressed by himself in some jeans and a button up shirt. He was proud of himself so he ran out of his bedroom to go tell his parents that he got dressed by himself without any help. 

“Look! I did it!” Peter spun around, showing everyone his accomplishment and getting cheers in return that made him feel so proud of himself. 

Tony ruffled his hair. “Good job, buddy. I’m so proud of you. You didn’t need any help.” 

Tony couldn’t believe how far Peter had come since starting school a month ago. He woke up every morning and got dressed by himself with zero help. He even took baths by himself most nights now, only needing help when it was hair washing night which Tony or Pepper were more than happy to help him out with. 

Of course there were a few days where it was difficult and Peter refused to get dressed on his own or go to school but those days were becoming less and less now. 

Tony felt like he had a permanent smile on his face at all times because of the overwhelming love he had for Peter. 

Now, they were getting ready to watch a school play at Harleys school where Harley was going to be doing two readings in front of the audience. It was late and usually Tony and Pepper would be getting Peter and Morgan ready for bed and calming them down but now they were getting ready to go out. 

Peter climbed onto the kitchen island to grab his water bottle and began drinking from it but Tony grabbed it from him. “Nope. Not until later.” 

Peter whined even as Tony lifted him off the counter and carried him to the front door. “Put your shoes on. The white ones, not the one with the holes in it.” 

“But I like the ones with the hole in it.” Peter complained and got one shoe on just as Morgan ran by in her underwear. Peter giggled. 

“I don’t wanna wear a dress! I don’t wanna wear a dress!” She yelled and went to run down the hallway but Tony grabbed her first. “Ahhh!” 

“Ahhhhhhh!” Peter screamed louder, causing everyone but Morgan to wince in pain at the high pitch scream 

“Peter and Morgan, no screaming or no candy at the show.” Tony placed Morgan on his hip and started walking upstairs. “You don’t have to wear a dress but you have to put clothes on because you can’t go in your underwear.” 

Once everyone was ready to go, Tony picked both of his youngest kids up and held each of them on his hip to carry them to the car so he didn’t have any runaways. Harley was already at the school otherwise he would be yelling at everyone to hurry up. 

Tony got Peter buckled into his car seat and climbed into the van to get Morgan buckled in but when he did that, Peter had unbuckled himself and was trying to run away out of the car but Tony grabbed his arm. “Nope. Sit down.” 

Peter arched his back so Tony couldn’t buckle him in. Tony sighed. They were already late. “Pepper, can you give me Peter’s water bottle. He’s way too crazy.” 

Pepper dug in her purse and pulled out Peter’s water bottle. They planned on giving it to him on the car ride home to get him sleepy but he could drink some of it now so Tony could get him strapped in. 

Once that was done, Tony sighed heavily and looked at Peter. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” 

Peter smiled behind the spout. 

Once they got there, Tony turned around and held his hand out for the bottle. “All done. You can have more later but we’re going in now.” 

Peter handed his dad his bottle and stretched, wanting to cuddle up to someone now and his dad was his first target so he took his seatbelt off. “Daddy, cuddle me.” 

“I will. Let’s get seated first.” Tony looked over at Pepper who was digging in her purse to make sure she had everything. “Are we forgetting anything?” 

“No.” She shook Peter’s water bottle. “We’ll need to buy milk before we leave. He drank most of it.” 

“Do you need to pee, Peter?” Tony asked, looking back at his two kids who were both picking their noses. He raised his eyebrows at Peter. 

“Yeah! I want Morgan to go pee with me too.” Peter kicked his feet excitedly and stood up, climbing over to the front seat and sitting on his dad’s lap. “Cuddle time?” 

“Pee time. Let’s go.” The four of them got out of the van and made their way inside the high school. Tony made sure to hold tightly onto both kids' hands since the lobby was extremely busy. 

“Let’s find a bathroom quickly.” Pepper led them to a staircase that was quiet so Tony let go of their hands now that they were out of the crowd. “We’ll find a bathroom on the second floor then make it downstairs before it starts.” 

Peter and Morgan raced up the stairs, Peter getting to the top first. “I win! Now where do we go?” 

“Through these doors.” Pepper pushed open the doors and pointed to the bathroom across the hallway. “There’s a bathroom. Let’s go quickly guys because we don’t have much time.” 

Peter and Morgan ran down the hallway and waited for their parents to follow them in. Tony checked the time and it was already 7:23pm so he hoped they could make it to the gymnasium in seven minutes and let two of the most distracted kids go pee. 

Once inside the bathroom, Peter tried to climb up on the sink to reach the taps but he was still too short. “Go pee first. Let’s go, bud.” 

Morgan ran into a stall so Pepper covered the seat in toilet paper while Peter watched. “I need to cover my seat too.” 

“No, you can stand. Come here.” Tony led Peter into the stall beside Morgan’s and quickly unbuttoned his pants pulling them down to save time so Peter didn’t take ten minutes to do it himself. 

“Noooo. I wanna sit.” Peter stomped his feet, moving back so Tony couldn’t push him towards the toilet. 

“Okay. Just, Pepper, can you line this toilet too.” Tony didn’t know how to do that and it seemed a lot harder than it probably was but they didn’t have any time. 

“Don’t touch anything, Morgan.” Pepper warned her daughter then went into the next stall to line the toilet seat. “You can stand, Pete.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. I wanna sit like at home.” 

No one argued with him so Tony quickly lifted him on the toilet seat and waited. Morgan finished and peeped her head in. “I beat you.” 

“That’s because I have more pee than you.” Peter argued and finished, lifting his arms up to be taken off the toilet now. 

Tony held Peter on his knee to get his hands washed and checked the time. 7:29, they could do this. 

They all ran down the hallway and raced down the stairs while continuously laughing. The whole ordeal was hilarious and it made Tony have to take a step back to realize just how truly happy he was and how much he loved his life. 

The family of four were seated in their spots just as the lights turned off and the curtains opened up. Tony looked over at Pepper. “How did we do that?” 

Pepper smiled at him. “We’re just that good.” 

Peter and Morgan sat between them and were playing with a quiet toy that Pepper had brought. It was a drawing board that the two of them were currently drawing their own pictures on, giggling like crazy once they showed each other. 

Tony put his hand on Peter’s back to quiet them. “Shh. It’s too loud. Let’s use quiet voices.” 

Peter turned to his dad and nodded to show that he heard and then someone was talking and he knew that voice so he snapped his head to look towards the stage, seeing his older brother talking. He gasped. “Daddy! It’s Harley!” 

“Yeah.” Tony whispered. “Shhh, it is but we have to be quiet.” 

Peter bounced excitedly in his chair, swinging his feet. It was so much fun to watch his older brother on stage so once he was done, Peter began clapping for him but he was the only one clapping since clapping wasn’t allowed to the very end. “Oh.” 

“Shh,” Tony bursted out laughing but tried so hard to remain quiet. “You’re too funny, Pete.” 

The whole show was supposed to be two and a half hours. Harley had two speeches, one at the beginning and one at the end and as much as Tony and Pepper wanted to watch his last speech, they couldn’t because they also had two young kids who had a short attention span and couldn’t sit still. 

Pepper and Tony tried to stay for as long as possible but it was getting too hard. 

Peter was sitting on the floor on Tony’s foot and bouncing on it while Morgan was trying to crawl under the chairs with Peter following her. Tony grabbed Peter and sat him on his lap. “Shh shh shh. Try to sit still.” 

Tony bounced his knee, hoping it helped but Peter arched his back and tried to slip down. Tony looked over at Pepper. “Go?” 

She nodded, standing up and grabbing her purse. Tony held Peter on his hip as he carried the wild boy out of the room while Peter tried to kick his legs to be placed on his feet. “Wait, Pete.” 

Once they were in the lobby, Tony placed Peter on his feet and pulled Peter’s pants straighter from Peter trying to kick and slide off of him. 

Pepper spotted a vending machine and grabbed her wallet. “Do you have change? I want to get Peter milk.” 

“Uh,” Tony dug in his pocket, pulling out three dollars. “Here.” It was already super late, way past both children’s bedtimes so Tony hoped they fell asleep in the car while they waited for Harley. 

Peter lifted his arms up once he spotted the milk. “Up.” 

Tony picked Peter up but didn’t have him the milk just yet. It was almost pitch black out while they walked across the parking lot and to the van. Tony opened up the back door and got Peter buckled in his car seat. 

“Milk.” The ten year old said, looking towards Pepper since he knew where she had it. 

Pepper poured the carton of milk into Peter’s water bottle and handed it to Tony who handed it to Peter. “Shhh. Close your eyes, baby. You can sleep if you want.” 

Morgan got herself into her own car seat and turned towards her dad. “I want milk too, daddy.” 

“You don’t need it, Morg. Pete does.” Tony climbed into the backseat and shut the door so he could continue to run a hand through Peter’s hair to get him to fall asleep. They taught Morgan to self soothe in a healthy way and to fall asleep on her own while Peter didn’t know how to fall asleep on his own and needed help getting relaxed and sleepy. 

Pepper sat in the passenger seat and turned around to watch her kids quickly fall asleep. She smiled at Tony. “They’re exhausted.” 

“Yeah.” Tony looked at Peter, he still had the spout in his mouth but was no longer drinking from it so Tony ever so carefully took it from him and placed it in his cup holder on his car seat. “He’s out.” 

“We should do this more often.” Pepper quietly laughed, looking at both of her children fast asleep. 

“Oh yeah?” Tony leaned forward to kiss Pepper. “If we get them into their own beds, we could have a little bit of fun tonight.” 

Pepper pulled Tony in to deepen the kiss. “Wouldn’t we be so lucky. Two nights in a row.” 

“We could make it three nights too.” Tony pulled away to see Pepper’s reaction, laughing quietly at it but then Pepper was fully pulling away. 

“No more. We got some sleeping kids, Tony.” 

“Aw shucks.” Tony checked the time. “I’m gonna try and catch Harley's last speech, will you be fine with them here?” 

“Of course.” 

Tony kissed her one last time and then made his way into the school. He was able to catch Harley's speech and when Harley looked up and made eye contact with his dad watching him, a smile broke out across his face. 

Tony knew how much this meant to Harley. They told him beforehand that they wouldn’t be able to catch his last speech because it was too long for his younger siblings to sit for that long but it came as a complete surprise for Harley to see his dad there for him. 

After the show, Harley walked up to his dad, letting the man pull him in for a tight hug. “I am so proud of you. You rocked those speeches, buddy.” 

Harley smiled against his dad’s chest. “Thanks, dad. Did Pete and Morgan fall asleep?” 

“Yeah, they’re sleeping in the car with your mom but I just had to come in and watch you. I love you so much, bud.” Tony released Harley from the hug and swung his arm around his shoulders as they made their way out of the school and towards the car. “Your mom is so proud of you too. So is your brother. Did you hear him clapping for you when he wasn’t supposed to?” 

Harley chuckled, leaning more against his dad. “Yeah, my friends thought that was funny.” 

The two of them got to the van and climbed in quietly. Pepper handed a present back to Harley, whispering. “Way to go, Harley. We’re so proud of you. This is from your father and I.” 

Harley quietly opened the present, revealing a box so he opened that and his eyes went wide with what he saw inside. “Woah. No way. You guys didn’t.” He pulled out a necklace that used to be Tony’s when he was younger. “Dad. Really? Can I really have this?” 

Tony nodded. “Yeah. I had it when I was your age and now it’s yours.” 

Harley put it around his neck and looked towards his parents. “Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad. I love it so much. This means so much to me, thank you.” 

They had to whisper to keep quiet so they didn’t accidentally wake up the little ones but to have a moment with just the three of them made it so much more special. 

Tony looked at Peter’s peaceful sleeping face and saved the sight in his mind. He never wanted to forget this night because it was a reminder of all the beautiful memories they would make together as a family of five. 

He pulled out of the parking spot and began driving home in the content silence. 

It was his favorite silence because it meant his family was safe and happy and that was the most important thing to Tony. 

By the time they got home, Tony got Peter out of his car seat and lifted him into his arms while Pepper got Morgan. “I’m gonna go tuck Peter into bed.” He told her as he pressed a kiss goodnight to Morgan’s head. “See you soon.” 

Tony was greeted at the door by Aiser running up to him, excited to see Peter who was definitely his favourite family member. “Let’s go upstairs, Aiser. It’s Peter’s bedtime.” 

The father carried Peter upstairs but when he went to lay Peter on his bed, Peter was waking up. “Shh, close your eyes and go back to sleep. I’m just putting you to bed.” 

Peter rubbed at his eyes and sat up. “Mm. My pyjamas.” 

Now that Peter was awake, Tony didn’t see the point in putting him to bed in uncomfortable clothes so he stepped aside to grab pyjamas out for Peter and handed it to him. 

Without even being asked, Peter began taking off his clothes all by himself and put his pyjamas on, never once asking for help or encouragement. 

Tony was so proud. He couldn’t get the smile off his face. 

Peter had come so far in such a short amount of time and Tony couldn’t wait to be there for Peter for the rest of his life. 

Peter smiled at his dad as he climbed into bed and laid down, grabbing his blanket to tuck it under his nose. “What, daddy?” 

“Nothing, baby.” Tony brushed curls off of Peter’s face. “I just love you so much and I’m so proud of you.” 

Peter smiled back, followed by a tired yawn. “I love you too, daddy. But I’m tired now so I’m gonna go to sleep.” 

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s temple. “You sleep, baby. I’m here and you’re safe.” 

If there was one thing Tony knew, was that Peter would always be safe with him. 

No matter what. 

.  
.  
.

Seven months later. 

“You’ve made quite the story around here.” The man said as he ushered them down the long hallway, holding tightly onto his arm. “I’ve had to pull a lot of strings to get you here.” 

The man let go of his arm but kept him close as he pulled some keys out and unlocked the cell, pushing the larger man inside. “Say hello to your new cellmate, although, I’m sure you guys already know each other very well. 

Steve turned and smiled at his old friend. “Hey, Bucky.” 

Bucky looked up and gave a faint smile to Steve. “Took you long enough.” 

Steve nodded and turned back to the guard. “I’ll be in contact with you soon, Ross. I want pictures of my son in the next forty-eight hours. Get them.” 

Ross locked the cell back up, handing Steve a burner phone. “You’ll get confirmation. Stark has a close eye on him so it won’t be that easy.” 

“I don’t care what you have to do. Kill them for all I care, I just want Peter back.” Steve narrowed his eyes at Ross. He would do whatever he had to do to get Peter back.

Bucky stood up, straightening out his back. “Once we get the confirmation, we’ll be out of here.” 

Steve turned to Bucky, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m getting my son back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh so that was the last chapter!! I hope you guys liked that. I just want to say a huge huge thank you to all of you who have read my fic and have supported me during this journey. This fic is definitely one of my favourites that I have ever written, I fell in love with all the characters and creating them! Thank you all so much for reading! 
> 
> As mentioned, and it’s obvious with the ending lol but there will be a sequel to this fic that I will be posting tomorrow! I’m sooooooo excited for you guys to read it Omg! I have 13 chapters written so far which is also kinda ironic since I’m posting this on the 13! But anyways, I’m soooo excited for you guys to finally see it. I really struggled with the title and it changed soooo many times but I found a title and immediately fell in love and just knew that was it so.... see you alll in the sequel!


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